Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

This fic was originally posted on ff.net under my same username there, but I thought I would give it a go cross-posting on here! 

I obviously do not own anything to do with the show or any of the characters; only the plot and writing is mine! 

Enjoy!

The unlikely duo had been driving through a small town called Willoughby when they had found Katherine’s hiding place, completely by accident.

Elena had pulled over, making the executive decision to feed, because she was starving after losing the contents of her stomach, yet again, after leaving the last town they’d stopped in.

Somehow – Elena wasn’t really sure how, she’d never gotten her meal so the few hours between had been a bit of a daze – they had tracked Katherine down and sat in a diner. After the revelation that Katherine was expected at a meeting soon, Elena smirked at Rebekah and began to take any items from Katherine that she believed would make her more believable in her masquerade as her doppelgänger.

Neither of the elder vampires seemed to notice that anything was wrong with her despite her head feeling like it was being split in two. She felt like she could throw up any second, even though she’d just thrown up in the bathroom, in the midst of perfecting her Katherine-esque makeup.

She paced the gazebo in an – admittedly poor – attempt to keep her nausea at bay. By the time Katherine’s ‘friend’ was due to arrive, her sickness had slowly waned and her headache had worn off slightly, apparently the pacing was helping.

“Katerina.”

Elena whipped around to face the direction of the voice and supressed a small gasp at seeing the eldest Original across from her. “Elijah… You’re a little late aren’t you?” She recovered from her shock and tried to channel her inner Katherine.

Elijah smiled at her a little and took a step closer to her. He fingered the lock of color in her brunette locks and she couldn’t help but notice how pale he looked.

“You colored your hair. I like it.”

Elena smirked and tilted her head; he placed his hands on her waist.

“Thank you. It’s actually gonna-” Elijah’s lips slanted over Elena’s, effectively cutting off what would have been a remarkably Katherine-like speech.

Elena found herself unable to supress the small gasp of surprise that escaped her lips when she felt his lips land on hers. She felt the remnants of her headache gradually melt away, and her sickness faded until it was non-existent. With a small moan of relief, her arms wrapped around the Original’s neck and she threw herself into the embrace without abandon – anything to keep the sickness away, she would later reason to herself.

His hands tightened fractionally around her waist and his tongue parted her willing lips. Their tongues met and she felt her lust (one of the only things she truly felt) coil in the pit of her stomach.

Eventually, Elijah pulled away from her, placing a few quick, chaste kisses on her lips before pulling his mouth away from hers completely, her arms fell from around his neck, although his hands remained on her hips, his complexion suddenly looking more like Elena remembered.

“It’s an interesting little town you’ve chosen to settle in.” Elena didn’t respond, only tilted her head, waiting for him to continue. “So… Do you have it with you?”

She was unable to hide the curiosity that tainted her mind and she had to know what he wanted.

“Do I have what?”

A small smile graced his features and he tilted his head at her also. “The cure? Do you have it with you?”

Elena shook her head slowly, a smirk creeping onto her features. Elijah quirked a brow. “It’s in a safe place.” She placed her palm on his chest and had noticed him glance at her hand; at her daylight ring. She prayed he wouldn’t notice. “Why don’t I go and get it? And then I’ll bring it back?”

Without waiting for a response she walked past the Original, but he grasped her wrist and pulled her back against his chest.

“Where is Katherine, Elena?”

They stood in a small alley-way that Elijah pulled them into upon realising her deception. Elena leant against the wall bored while Elijah spoke with Stefan.

“If anything whatsoever happens to Katerina, I will descend upon Elena.” Elijah hung up the mobile and Elena rolled her eyes, scoffing.

“You’re both idiots.”

“Excuse me?”

Elena finally turned to look at Elijah, who had his back to her, she let out a noise of exasperation. “What happened to you Elijah? I thought you were supposed to be a man of honor, yet you’ve been hooking up with Katherine this entire time?”

“Well, I suppose this man of honor always shared a connection with Katherine. She contacted me when she learned about the cure; we thought we could be of mutual use to one another.”

Elena chuckled. “Of mutual use?”

Elijah hummed in an affirmative.

“Please. You fell for her trap just like every other one of those idiots.”

Elijah waited for a beat before replying to her, after taking a deep breath. “You underestimate me, Elena,” He turned to face her. “I know who she is, I know what she has done.” Elijah walked back past her and she noticed his skin had paled in color again.

“And you think she’s changed? She’s playing you. She lied to you Elijah.”

“She didn’t lie to me about your transformation.”

Elena raised an eyebrow at Elijah’s calculating gaze.

“You’re not just a vampire though, are you?” He dropped his gaze for a second before he had looked back at her. “There’s something else. You…you’re not yourself.” His brow furrowed and he gazed at her for a second longer.

Then he took several small steps closer and she gave him a small shrug, waiting to see what Elijah was going to come up with. He had tilted his head. “You’ve abandoned your emotions. Why?”

“My brother is dead.”

Elijah straightened away from her; it had almost been a flinch.

“Your girlfriend killed him.”

Elijah blinked several times in, what seemed to be, genuine surprise and dropped his gaze from hers.

“You didn’t know?” Elena’s voice was laced with a small undertone of curiosity that had Elijah’s gaze returning to hers. “Of course you didn’t.”

“She lied.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “I hate to say I told you so, but… duh!” Suddenly, Elena felt the nausea return in full force and she spun away from the Original, bracing her arm against the wall to steady herself.

“Elena? Are you okay?”

While she attempted to battle off the sudden bout of sickness, she heard him take a few steps closer to her and held up a dainty hand in a gesture for him to stop approaching. He did.

“Elena?”

“I’m fine, just a little nauseous. It’s been going on for a while now.”

He took a few cautious steps closer, wary of deception, yet he couldn’t deny how pale she was. “Elena. You’re a vampire; you shouldn’t be getting sick…”

She felt him lay a gentle hand on her back and, just like that, she felt her sickness fade until it was only a small thrum in the pit of her stomach.

She slowly steadied herself, using the wall as leverage and turned to face the Original. His hand drifted to her waist when she turned and he went to lift it away, but she placed her hand over his and held it in place for a moment before she took hold of it.

“You make it go away.”

His complexion yet again began darkening as she took hold of his hand.

“You feel it too. Don’t you? The sickness?”

He nodded slowly, hesitantly, almost as though he afraid to tell her that he was weaker than was usual for him. “Yes.”

That was all he said. Nothing more, no elaboration on what it was like for him, how badly he felt it. Just a simple conformation.

It was then that she realised what being with him was doing to her. She could feel her emotions beginning to stir beneath the surface, struggling to break free from her hold on them.

Elena dropped his hand like he had burnt her and disappeared, only to reappear on the other side of the alley, only his compulsion keeping her there at all.

“Stop it! Stop doing that!”

He turned to face her and she watched him swallow, steeling himself, before quirking a brow and shrugging his shoulders a little.

“I am afraid I do not know what you mean, Elena. I am not doing anything.”

She shook her head in denial and she took a step away, mirroring his step closer in a parody of a dance. “Don’t lie to me! I know what you’re trying to do; it won’t work!”

He stepped closer again, Elena stepped back again, only to meet the end of her compulsion; she couldn’t go any further than there.

He moved closer until he was only a few steps away from the doppelgänger.

“I assure you, Elena, I am not doing a thing to you.” He tilted his head and took another step closer. “But I do know why you are upset. You are starting to feel again, and you don’t want that. Do you?”

Elena shook her head vehemently and ghosted past the Original to the other side of the alleyway.

She was so lost in her inner turmoil, watching the paling Original, that she hadn’t noticed the sounds behind her until it was too late and two hands grabbed each of her arms and pulled her away. She let them…

Until they reached the end of the alley of course and then the compulsion kicked in. Then she started to struggle against the hands holding her, not wanting to, but being unable to stop.

“He must’ve compelled her.” Damon’s voice was in her right ear and she saw Elijah nod.

“I did.”

Elena’s attention snapped to the Original and she continued to struggle, even as he walked closer to her.

“She is unable to leave this alley, no matter how crudely you attempt to pull her away.” Elijah took another step closer to the doppelgänger, who ceased her struggling momentarily once the Salvatore’s stopped pulling at her. As soon as the brothers recommenced their attempts to pull her from the alley she began fighting them immediately.

The nausea had come back in full force, her head had felt like someone was drilling through the base of her skull and she could swear she felt the color drain from her skin.

“Gentlemen, if you wish for Elena to make it from this alley any less scathed than she is I recommend you release her this instant.”

“Damon…” Elena’s voice was quiet and strained as she fought to resist the sickness creeping up on her.

“Elena….”

“Please, Damon…”

The hand on her right arm slowly, reluctantly, loosened and there was been a small moment of pause before the hand on her other arm released her.

Elena stumbled forward a few steps before promptly hurling her guts up by the wall.

Then his hand was on the small of her back again; his other held her long brunette locks out of the way of the blood. Once that bout of sickness had ended, she had realised that his hand had been rubbing small circles into her back, slowly easing the sickness away.

“Well, isn’t this just sickeningly sweet.”

Elena groaned, standing from her crouch, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“It’s definitely sickening.” She quipped as she turned to face the blonde, and studiously ignored Elijah’s concerned gaze and the feel of his palm that still rested on the small of her back.

“What is going on with the pair of you anyway? Don’t even deny it Elijah.” Rebekah cut off Elijah’s protest before he had a chance to form it. “You look white as a sheet, and she’s been chucking her guts up the entire time I’ve been with her. You’re vampires for Christ’s sake! Neither of you should bloody be sick at all!”

Elena opened her mouth to speak, but she saw Rebekah shake her head quickly and hold up a hand to stop her words.

“No! Don’t you even try and bloody deny it either! You are bloody well sick and that’s the end of it!”

Elena shut her mouth and glared at the blonde.

“Unless you’ve been bitten by a blimmen werewolf? No?” Both of the vampires glared silently at the blonde in front of them and she quirked an eyebrow before continuing. “Then we need to find out why you’re sick, Elena, ‘cause, whatever the bloody hell it is, you’re making my brother sick too!” Rebekah gestured towards Elijah, who still been stood by Elena, his hand on her back.

“Rebekah, I was already sick before I saw Elena here.” Elijah spoke to his sister softly, yet firmly and she rolled her eyes.

“Elijah?”

Briefly, because of the softness the voice had spoken with, Elijah initially thought the voice to be Elena’s. Then he looked to his right and saw Katherine staring back at him.

“Elijah? What are you doing with her?”

“Katerina.” Elijah’s voice was tinged with resignation and Elena took that opportunity to slip away from his side.

Stefan and Damon glared at her. “Well you seem rather chummy with an Original who threatened to kill you.” Damon’s tone was condescending and his glare irritated.

“Elena, come with us. We’ll find a way to make you better. You’ll be safe with us, Elena.” Stefan’s tone was soft and compassionate; Elena rolled her eyes.

“I am perfectly safe by myself, Stefan. I feed when I want to feed; when I need to. I kill when I have to. And I don’t let my emotions get in the way of what I need to get done; unlike the two of you.” Elena’s tone was amused and she smirked as she spoke.

“My emotions get in the way?” Damon sounded incredulous and Elena nodded.

“That is why you are here, isn’t it, Damon? Without your pesky emotions, you wouldn’t be here at all; you wouldn’t be wasting your time on trying to save someone who doesn’t need to be saved.”

Damon shook his head vehemently. “This isn’t you Elena! The you that I love doesn’t kill people when they don’t need to.”

Just as Elena was about to respond, a woman rounded the corner, intent on walking through the alley that was occupied by the six vampires.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” She paused and hesitantly gestured towards Elijah’s end of the alley. “Do you mind if I…?”

Elena smiled kindly, falsely, and nodded turning to gesture past her. “Of course not. Please.”

The girl hesitantly walked past Stefan and Damon and quickened her pace.

In less than a second, Elena pinned the girl against the wall and sunk her fangs into her neck. She pulled away after she felt the rich, coppery blood strengthen her and she turned the girl so that her back was against Elena’s front.

Then she licked her lips, and smirked at Stefan and Damon’s faces. “Are you going to leave me be or not?” The girl in her arms whimpered and struggled feebly against Elena’s hold.

The Salvatore’s exchanged glances. “Elena…you know we can’t.” Stefan’s tone was soft, in an attempt to calm her down she was sure.

Elena pursed her lips and nodded. “Okay.”

Then she let the girl go.

When Elena had attacked her they had wound up further down the alley meaning the girl had further to run towards Stefan, Damon, and her safety. She made it about 5 steps before Elena snapped her neck and she fell to the floor in a disorganized heap.

Elena was tempted to laugh at their faces. “That’s one body you’re responsible for. If you don’t stop there’ll be a second and third and… I’m sure you know how to count. Don’t you?” Elena saw Damon open his mouth to reply, but before he could someone else spoke.

“Elena?” She turned to see Elijah staring at her with his lips parted slightly. He looked at the body at her feet before looking back into her eyes. His gaze was open and expressive for once and she could see the disappointment, the despair, in his eyes.

“What?”

He continued to look at her with large, sad eyes.

“Oh don’t look at me like that! I didn’t kick your puppy for heaven’s sake! I was making a point, Elijah.”

He frowned slightly and shook his head. “You didn’t need to kill an innocent woman to do so!” His voice had risen considerably. “Christ, Elena! Why?”

“Do you really think they’d listen if I had asked nice and sweetly; like you obviously still expect from me? What’s wrong with you, Elijah? When did you become so naïve?”

He scoffed incredulously and shook his head. Suddenly he appeared in front of her, glaring down at her. “Naïve? You think I am naïve? Not once since we met earlier today have I pretended that your compassion would have remained untainted since the last time we spoke!” Elijah’s tone continued to rise and he was just short of yell when he continued speaking. “I knew you would have changed! But I guess I had just hoped that you wouldn’t have reduced yourself to...this! To killing innocent people just to attempt to prove a point!”

“Innocent? You think she was innocent? If that is your only problem, then take a closer look at her! Note how she smells of fear, terror, blood! Blood that isn’t hers! She was a killer, Elijah! And if you can’t see that then you are naïve!” Elena began to yell at the vampire inches from her and Elijah glanced at the woman by their feet, then back up at Elena.

He opened his mouth to reply, but Elena cut him off with a shake of her head. “But you know what Elijah? If she was an innocent I still wouldn’t care! I would have killed her anyway if I had needed to!”

Elijah snapped his mouth shut and stared at the doppelganger in front of him mutely for a moment. “Get out of my sight.”

Elena scoffed at him. “I’m sorry?”

“I said, get out of my sight! I cannot be near you when you are like this, Elena!” His eyes bore into Elena’s and his voice took on a hypnotic tone as he compelled her. “You are free to leave this alley.”

“I am free to leave this alley.” Elena tonelessly murmured his compulsion back to him.

“Now leave.” He sounded almost reluctant to compel her away.

As soon as the compulsion had broken, she brushed past the Original and walked to the end of the alley.

As the Original yelled at her, she felt herself steadily growing weaker and was growing increasingly so as she walked away. She rounded the corner at the mouth of the end of the alley and fell against the wall.

Elena collapsed against the solid brick in a fit of gut-wrenching coughs. She covered her mouth with a hand and, when she had a small pause in the coughing, she pulled it away, only for her to notice a spatter of blood on her palm.

“Eli-” The Originals name was cut off by another bout of coughing and her vision went spotty as her head began to spin.

Just as her coughing bout ended, she felt herself begin to fall forward, only for a strong arm to grasp her around the waist, stopping her graceless descent towards the concrete.

She was lowered slowly and the arm holding her gently turned her, so she was on her back. Before the face above her was given a chance to come into focus, her vision blurred completely, and she had passed out.

Chapter Text

Elena woke up to find herself led on an unbelievably soft bed. She let out a low groan and rolled over to her side, bringing a hand up rub her eyes; the added pressure relieving some of the pain behind them.

Slowly opening her eyes, she took in the unfamiliar room around her. It looked like a hotel room; she frowned, how the hell had she ended up here?

She sat up, too quickly, and grimaced, fighting the urge to be sick. With more effort than it should’ve been, she threw the comforter off of her body, and swung her legs to hang off the side of the bed. Elena closed her eyes for a moment, the movements making her feel dizzy. When she felt slightly more steady, she stood from the bed she was on, again taking in her surroundings; this place was seriously fancy.

Realising she could hear hushed voices, she followed them, opening the door she found herself in front of. The door opened to a large lounge area, confirming Elena’s thoughts about just how fancy a hotel she was in, this must be a penthouse she thought, nodding slightly in approval.

Stefan and Damon stood with their backs to Elena; Damon was arguing with Rebekah, who was lounging comfortably on a sofa in the centre of the room. An armchair sat at an angle to the end of the sofa; it was occupied by Elijah, the only one in the room to notice that Elena was awake.

He looked up at her tiredly, his normally astute face was drawn and pale; he looked exhausted. A small sheen of sweat glazed his brow, drawing attention to the slight greying of his skin. Despite all of this, he met Elena’s eyes, raising an eyebrow at her, as if asking if she planned on entering the room.

“You look like crap.”

Elena’s voice cut over the arguing vampires, reducing them to silence as they turned to look at her.

Elijah quirked one side of his mouth slightly. “I could say the same about you.”

Elena pouted. “You wouldn’t be so crass; it might hurt my feelings.”

Elijah scoffed. “Your switch is off, Elena, you don’t care.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” She shrugged, sauntering into the room and flopping down on the opposite end of the sofa to Rebekah.

“We were just telling Barbie here that we’re taking you home.” Damon said, his voice tight as he glared at Rebekah, arms crossed over his chest.

“No.” Elena scoffed before Rebekah could start arguing with the older Salvatore brother again. “I told you both, I’m done with Mystic Falls. Besides, Arizona’s supposed to be nice.” She shrugged.

“You’re not going to Arizona, Elena.” Rebekah cut in, fed up with the Salvatores arguing. “We are going to New Orleans.”

“We?” Elena asked, raising a curious eyebrow, surely Rebekah didn’t mean Stefan and Damon were coming.

“Elijah is coming with us.” Rebekah replied, watching Elena as she tilted her head and stared at her brother for a moment with pursed lips for a moment, before nodding in approval. “New Orleans has one of the largest witch populations in the world, I figure that’s the best place for us to go to try and understand why you’re both ill.”

Elena shrugged, not giving the Salvatore brothers a chance to get a word in edgeways. “Fine by me, I’ve always wanted to go to Mardi Gras.” She grinned at Rebekah, noticing that although the blonde smiled back at her it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

The Salvatores immediately started arguing with Rebekah and trying to talk sense into Elena; she ignored them both, setting her gaze on Elijah.

The Original was staring back at her, his head tilted slightly, almost like he was examining her; trying to figure out what was going on in her emotionless head, she was sure. Elena raised an eyebrow at Elijah, daring him to ask the question that must be playing on his mind, smiling at him when he copied her action, quirking an eyebrow back at her.

Damon crouched in front of her, gripping the tops of her arms and shaking her slightly. “Stop this crap, Elena! You’re coming back to Mystic Falls with us, and you’re flipping your stupid switch back!”

“Get off of her, Damon!” Rebekah snapped, tearing the younger vampire away from Elena and throwing him up against the wall, a slender hand wrapped around his throat. “Elena has made her feelings towards returning to Mystic Falls very clear; she wants to do no such thing and you will respect her wishes.”

“I suggest you listen to my sister, Mr Salvatore.” Elijah cut over Damon’s pathetic attempt at talking around Rebekah’s hand choking him. “I am quickly losing patience with your insolence, and I presume you would like to keep your heart in your chest.”

Stefan tried to cut into the conversation, drawing Elijah’s attention to him, but before he could get a word out, Elijah was talking again, this time to Stefan.

“By all means, go back to Mystic Falls yourselves, collect your friends if you so choose,” Elijah looked at Elena, meeting her amused eyes, “but Elena, Rebekah and I are travelling to New Orleans without you and your brother.”

After a tense moment of silence, Stefan nodded slowly, making Rebekah grin and drop Damon from where she was holding him. He fell in a pile on the floor, coughing and holding his throat with a grimace, Stefan appeared next to him, checking on his brother quickly before helping him stand.

“You can’t be serious.” Damon wheezed, glaring at his brother. “You actually think we should leave her with them?”

“We need to pick our battles, Damon.” Stefan murmured, looking at Elena. “This isn’t one we can win; we’ll meet them in New Orleans.” He said, turning his gaze to Elijah, who tilted his head in acknowledgement of Stefan’s words.

Stefan hustled his brother from the hotel room with one last glance at Elena, who’d already turned her attention back to Elijah.

Elena grinned at the Originals in front of her as the door shut. “Well that was fun.” She smirked, surprised when Elijah rolled his eyes at her, the illness that was affecting them both must be having more of an impact on Elijah than they realised.

“Bloody Salvatores.” Rebekah muttered in response to Elena, sitting back on the sofa with a huff and a flick of her hair. “I don’t know what you ever saw in them.”

Elena laughed. “Neither do I, Bekah, they don’t know when to leave well enough alone.”

Elijah let out a low breath, closing his eyes again and leaning against the back of the chair. “Sister, I don’t suppose I could bother you for a drink?”

Rebekah’s head snapped in her brother’s direction, quickly taking in his pained features and disappearing into the kitchen to warm a bag of blood for him.

“You alright?” Elena asked, surprisingly softly for her lack of emotions.

Elijah opened his eyes, raising his eyebrows at her curiously. “I didn’t think you cared.”

Elena scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I don’t. But it seems that we’re both suffering from the same thing; just want to know what to expect.”

Elijah studied her features for a moment, quirking his lips slightly. “My mistake.” He said softly, his eyes flitting away from Elena for a second, before looking back at her. “How long do you plan on keeping your switch off?”

“I didn’t think you cared.” Elena retorted. “What happened to not wanting to be near me like this?”

“We clearly don’t have any choice in the matter.” Elijah sighed, turning his focus to the doorway behind Elena. “Since we are none the wiser to how long we will have to be in each other’s company, I thought I should at least find out how long to expect…this.” He gestured absently in her direction, drawing a laugh from Elena.

“Don’t worry, Elijah, I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible.”

That drew his gaze back to Elena, his brow furrowed as he looked at her. “Where will you go?”

Elena shrugged. “Anywhere, everywhere. I’ve been stuck in Mystic Falls my whole life, Elijah, I want to see the world, away from anyone who would change who I am.” She said, with a pointed look in his direction.

“You think I want to change you?”

“You don’t?” She asked, innocently, laughing again when he looked away from her. “You don’t like this version of me, Elijah, we both know it, not enough of that…what was it? Oh yeah, compassion! Your poor little damsel Elena isn’t here anymore.”

“I meant what I wrote in that letter, Elena. I hope you know that.” He murmured, emphasising that he meant the other Elena.

“Which part?” Elena retorted, refusing to let him get at her. “The part where you said my compassion was a gift, or where you signed it always and forever?” She grinned, hearing Rebekah falter in her actions slightly and amused by the quick grimace she saw flash across Elijah’s features.

“All of it.” He replied, surprising Elena, she genuinely thought he was going to dodge her question. “You’re not a child, Elena, I won’t lie to you.” He supplied, noting the flash of emotion behind the brunette’s eyes for a second before she quickly smothered it.

They sat in silence for a moment as Elena mulled over Elijah’s words.

“What’s your plan then?” Elena drawled. “To get my precious humanity back.”

Elijah shrugged. “I don’t have one.”

“Seriously?” Elena laughed. “You’ve been crying about my poor humanity all day, but you don’t have a plan to get it back?”

“You are your own person, Elena; you have your own choices to make, whether I agree with them or not is irrelevant.” He sighed, straightening his suit jacket, what was taking Rebekah so long?

Again, Elena laughed, slightly hysterically. “Wow, if I’d known all I had to do to be able to make my own choices was to kiss Elijah Mikaelson, I’d’ve done it ages ago!”

Elijah narrowed his eyes at her, clearly irritated with her, which only made Elena laugh harder. After a moment, her laughter turned to coughs, making Elijah straighten in his chair involuntarily, concerned.

“Elena?” He asked softly, her panicked eyes rising to meet his momentarily, before she fell from her seat on the sofa, her whole body wracked by vicious coughs.

Elijah was by her side in a heartbeat, ignoring the fuzziness in his head at the quick movement. Rebekah was by their side in another beat, holding out a glass of blood to Elena.

“Drink this.” She urged, Elijah taking the glass from her when it was clear Elena couldn’t steady herself enough to take it.

With Rebekah’s help, they managed to sit Elena up against Elijah’s chest, the older vampire muttering quietly to Elena to try and calm her bout of coughing. He pressed the glass against Elena’s lips as soon as there was a break in her coughs, forcing the blood into her mouth.

As the attack subsided, Elena took the glass in her own hands, guzzling the little liquid that remained. When the glass was empty, she fell back against Elijah, eyes shut and breathing heavily.

Rebekah took the glass from Elena’s hands almost automatically, disappearing back into the kitchen. She returned quickly, a blood bag for each of the sick vampires in her hands.

Elena opened her eyes at the sound of the plastic, eagerly taking the bag that Rebekah extended to her. Elijah took his hand from Elena’s hair, – haphazardly thrown over her left shoulder by him to keep it out of the way of the glass of blood – taking his bag of blood much more calmly than Elena.

Surprisingly, Elena remained leaning against Elijah after she finished her drink, the hand that remained on her shoulder grounding her against the sickness she felt.

When Elijah finished his bag he looked to Rebekah who was watching the couple with concerned eyes.

“I presume the jet is ready?” He said softly, placing his empty blood bag on top of Elena’s discarded one.

Rebekah nodded. “I’ll tell them to be expecting us sooner than we had planned.” She cast another brief look in their direction as she pulled her phone from her pocket and walked back into the small kitchenette that the penthouse provided them with.

“Are you alright?” Elijah asked, his attention turned back to the doppelganger in his arms.

Elena let out a sharp laugh, devoid of any actual humour. “I can safely say the second time round is no better than the first.” She cleared her throat, finally pulling away from Elijah, his hand falling from her shoulder as she launched to her feet, turning to face him.

He looked almost…human, Elena mused, staring at the Original who knelt before her. He met her eyes, raising an eyebrow slowly as if to ask what her plan was now.

Vulnerability, Elena thought, reading the emotion on his face that she could, it wasn’t something she associated with the man who stared up at her.

“Do you tire of being so human?” She asked Elijah, folding her arms over her chest when he laughed at her, shaking his head slowly.

“I can’t say I expected you to ever ask that of me.” A soft smile played at his lips making Elena narrow her eyes at him.

“You said you wouldn’t lie to me.” She reminded him, prompting another smile.

“I haven’t.” Elijah shrugged, sighing when Elena only raised an eyebrow at him, refusing to say anything else until he answered her question. “I’m not sure I would call myself such, let alone grow tired of it.”

That drew a genuine laugh from Elena. “Look at yourself, Elijah! So concerned for little Elena Gilbert.” She sneered. “You can’t deny your humanity when I can see it written on your face!”

Elijah was stood in front of her in an instant, staring down at her, Elena was sure he was hoping for fear in her eyes, but she only smirked at him, tilting her head in amusement. “Careful, Elena.” He whispered, dropping his head to her ear and drawing a small shudder from Elena as the movement made her remember the first time they’d met. “Your emotions are showing.”

Before she could retort, Elijah was gone.

Chapter Text

Rebekah let out a long sigh, studying the vampires in front of her.

Elena was curled up on the bench seat, her head resting on Elijah's lap. She'd led there to push his limits; to see what she could get away with where Elijah was concerned, all of them knew that much, it was more curious that Elijah had done nothing other than shift slightly, allowing both of them to get comfortable. Rebekah wondered just how much of Elijah's behaviour was due to being ill and how much was simply her brother.

She kept the thought to herself, just as she didn't mention that Elijah was holding the book he was pretending to read upside down, or that he hadn't bothered to turn a page since they'd taken off.

Halfway into the flight, Elena woke up with a yawn, lazily stretching her body out within the available space she had.

Elijah put his book to the side as Elena sat up, rolling her neck from side to side with a soft sigh.

"Are we there yet?" She asked Rebekah, pouting slightly.

The blonde rolled her eyes at Elena. "You only slept half the flight away, we've got a little over an hour to go yet."

Elena let out a dramatic sigh, flopping back onto Elijah's lap, eliciting a sigh from the Original.

"What's wrong, Elijah?" Elena asked innocently, fluttering her eyelashes up at Elijah. "Am I annoying you yet?"

Elijah looked down at Elena and raised an eyebrow at her, making her laugh. "You're too easy to wind up."

Elijah said nothing, only let his head fall backwards and his eyes shut with a soft exhale of breath. He didn't bother opening his eyes when he felt Elena remove her head from his lap, she wasn't there to hurt him, and if she tried he was sure Rebekah would intervene on his behalf.

"Elijah? Are you alright?" Rebekah asked softly, she and Elena both watching Elijah with worried eyes, in Rebekah's case at least, although she suspected there was a glimmer of something behind Elena's.

"I'm fine, sister." Elijah replied just as quietly as Rebekah. "I find I'm rather eager to deal with the cause of this…affliction."

"You and me both." Elena muttered, wondering to herself just how much of a role she and Elijah played in each other's illness. She couldn't deny that she felt better when she was close to him, it wasn't her emotions saying that, she rationalised with herself, she physically felt better next to Elijah, it was interesting. He seemed to feel the same way, from what she could read on his face anyway.

"I need a snack when we land," Elena shrugged, changing the topic from boring feelings, "I'm sure there's plenty of tourists no-one will miss."

"No." Elijah said firmly. "You will not kill anyone else."

Elena clenched her jaw, glaring at the man who couldn't even be bothered to look at her. "Since when do you tell me what to do?"

"New Orleans is tumultuous at the best, Elena, your lack of emotions will not be adding another problem to the mix." He opened his eyes to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "If you want to feed from people, I will not stop you, but you will not kill them."

Elena met his eyes defiantly, her chin jutting out as she glared at him. "Your concern for the people of New Orleans is touching, Elijah, but why do I feel like there's something the two of you aren't telling me about your connections there?"

"Elena…" Rebekah warned softly.

"No, Rebekah," Elena argued, not taking her eyes from Elijah, "I'm willing to try New Orleans to fix whatever is wrong with me, but I will not blindly follow you into a lie." She raised an eyebrow at him, folding her arms over her chest. "So, help me, if we get there and I find out you are lying to me, I won't give a crap about your stupid little rule."

"Be careful, Elena, I am not above putting restrictions into place so you cannot do anything reckless."

Elena scoffed. "What am I? Your child?"

Elijah's eyes flashed as Elena twisted his previous words against him.

"You said you weren't going to lie to me." Elena continued.

"It's not Elijah's secret to tell, Elena." Rebekah interjected, growing more concerned with the tension blossoming between the pair in front of her. "It's more delicate than you can understand."

Elena's glare alternated between the pair either side of her, debating whether this was a topic worth arguing about. Taking stock of the unwavering looks on their faces, she huffed, turning her back on the pair of them and stalking to a secluded seat in the rear of the jet.

Silence reigned over the rest of the flight. Elena hadn't left her seat in the back of the plane, mulling over the Originals she was travelling with; wondering what could be so sensitive that they would be skirting around it in the way they were. Being out of Mystic Falls, she was completely removed from the rumour mill that usually ran through their small town. She wasn't sure if that was a relief or not.

Did she trust Elijah? That was the question that ran through her mind over and over during the rest of the flight and the drive to the old plantation house. They'd betrayed each other several times, but despite that there had always been a mutual understanding between the two; they cared for their families and they would do anything for them. The secret had to involve Klaus, Elena mused, he was the only other Original still standing, more than that, there were only two people Elijah would protect so vehemently, and one was on the flight with them.

"I've been thinking," Elena said suddenly, breaking the silence as she leant forward from her seat in the back on the car, one arm on each of the front seats, "if this is such a big secret, shouldn't you be keeping me away from the very place I assume you're keeping it?"

The siblings exchanged brief glances before Rebekah turned her focus back to the road with a sigh.

"We weighed our options on the flight back." Elijah explained, seemingly content to leave it at that.

"And what? You decided to trust me?" Elena pouted, mocking the Original sat to her right. "Were you hoping I'd beg?" She mock whispered, drawing a snort from Rebekah.

"We are choosing to trust you, Elena, despite what other people involved believe." Elijah said, turning to face her. "I am hoping you won't make me regret it."

Elijah held Elena's gaze unflinchingly as she tilted her head at him, assessing the Original's integrity. She inclined her head in a slight nod; satisfied, Elijah turned back to the front of the car.

Elena sat back in her seat behind Elijah, pulling her feet up to rest on the back of his seat, lightly nudging him in the back. She wasn't sure if she would ever truly doubt his integrity, emotions or not, there was just something about him.

"Other people involved means Klaus, right?" Elena asked, continuing to nudge Elijah in the back. "Are you going to tell me what I'm walking into? Or just leave me to figure it out?"

"Well, we're here now." Rebekah sighed, pulling the car to a stop. "So, I guess you have your answer."

Elena let herself out of the car, admiring the plantation house in front of her as she shut the door firmly. Elijah was much slower to exit the car, shutting the door calmer than Elena, raising an eyebrow at her when he noticed her curious look.

"Was there something you wanted?" He asked.

Elena shook her head, pursing her lips slightly. "Just thinking."

"Steady on, love."

Elena turned to look at Klaus, quirking her eyebrow at him. "Says you of all people."

Elena didn't flinch when Klaus appeared in front of her a split-second later, trapping her against the car. "Don't push my good-nature, love, you're only here because of Elijah. After what happened to Kol, I'd think twice about getting on my nerves."

Elena said nothing, only tilting her head at the hybrid curiously. Klaus had always been volatile, but this wasn't that, he was plenty controlled, it almost seemed like nervousness bubbling underneath his harsh exterior.

Klaus regarded her with a similar curiosity at her lack of response, laughing after a moment. "Well, I never, Elena Gilbert's flipped the switch!" He laughed again, glancing at Elijah and Rebekah before turning back to the doppelganger. "I can't say I ever expected that from you."

Elena shrugged. "A sire bond made it hard to have a say in the matter."

Elijah's head snapped up to look at Elena as she dropped that titbit of information, she hadn't revealed she was beholden to a sire bond.

"If you step a foot out of line," Klaus whispered, leaning closer to Elena, "I will kill you."

"Noted."

As Klaus pulled away from Elena, the front door to the home swung open once again revealing a vaguely familiar face.

"Elijah," she sighed happily, coming down the steps to the house, "you're back."

"What am I? Chopped liver." Rebekah muttered to herself.

"Oh, I know you!" Elena realised as the brunette stepped into a patch of light. "Hayley, right?"

Hayley nodded. "You're the doppelganger."

"Elena." She snapped, quickly reigning in the annoyance that flared in her. "My doppelganger status is pretty irrelevant nowadays."

"Right." Hayley nodded again, turning her attention back to Elijah. "I didn't realise you were coming back today."

"Something came up." Elijah acknowledged, accepting the bag that Rebekah threw at him from the trunk of the car.

Klaus and Hayley both regarded Elijah with curious looks, piquing more intrigue in Elena; they didn't know about Elijah's illness.

A sharp look from Elijah made it clear that Elena wasn't to say anything, she inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement, a raised eyebrow making it clear that she wanted to talk to him later on. Elijah returned a similar gesture, resigned to several difficult conversations that would have to take place.

"How do you feel about a shopping trip tomorrow?" Elena asked suddenly, turning to Rebekah. "I really don't have all that many clothes to be staying here indefinitely."

"You can't be wandering New Orleans, love." Klaus interjected immediately, pulling Elena's attention his way. "You're the doppelganger, vampire or not, people here will be desperate to get their hands on you, we can't have that."

"So, I'll get a witch to change my appearance." Elena shrugged, not seeing the problem that was clearly inscribed on the Original's faces.

"Magic is banned here." Hayley was the one to break the silence, frowning at Elena. "Marcel Gerard punishes any unauthorised magic with execution." She said, like it was obvious.

Elena turned to look at Elijah, folding her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes at him, refusing to acknowledge his slightly chagrined expression. "You have so much explaining to do."

Chapter Text

When the other occupants of the house were safely asleep, Elijah found himself stood beside the outdoor pool, watching as Elena swam the length gracefully.

After several more laps, she swam to the side of the pool, resting her arms on the ledge as she looked up at Elijah, tilting her head at him curiously.

“Are you not joining me?”

“I believe I owe you an explanation.” He said softly. “And I find myself rather short of any appropriate clothing.” Elijah remarked, holding out a white towel.

“That hasn’t stopped me.” Elena smirked, referencing the underwear she was wearing to swim in. “We could ditch the clothes entirely if that’s more to your liking.” She grinned at him, her eyes roaming up and down his frame.

Elijah responded only by raising an eyebrow and continuing to hold the towel in Elena’s direction. She rolled her eyes at his lack of response, pulling herself from to pool to sit on the side, her legs still dangling in the cool water. She tilted her head to the side as Elijah placed the towel around her shoulders gently, turning her head to look at him when the soft material was settled. He held a hand out to her, which Elena accepted, allowing the Original to help her to her feet. They remained still for a moment, hand in hand as they stared at each other.

Elena gently pulled her hand from Elijah’s, wringing out some of the water in her hair without breaking the eye contact they held. Elijah was the first one to step away, breaking the atmosphere between them.

With a soft smile at her ability to seemingly frazzle the Original, Elena pulled the towel from around her shoulders, using it to dry her hair rather than her body. She found herself unsurprised when Elijah removed his suit jacket and offered it to her in place of the towel.

Elena shrugged on the jacket, quickly continuing to squeeze some water from her hair as she sat in one of the chairs beside the pool. “Well?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at him when he turned to face her. “You brought me to the magic capitol where magic is outlawed. What on earth is your plan?”

Elijah let out a soft sigh, sitting beside Elena. “A vampire runs New Orleans, somehow, he is aware of any magic being performed anywhere in the city, and seeks to punish anyone who practices without his consent.”

“You want to know how he does it?” Elena asked, tilting her head as she looked at him. “I fail to see why I’m here to solve our little…affliction, if no-one can use magic without fear of death.”

“Marcel must have an in with the witches, somehow he knows when people are practicing.”

“You think he has a witch on his side.” Elena said, leaning back in her seat in thought. “They’d have to be powerful to track other witches.” She shook her head, frowning at Elijah.

“Very.” He agreed. “They’d also have to be rather young to turn against their own in such a way.” He mused, looking at Elena pointedly.

“You think I can get her on our side?” Elena laughed. “I’m not sure I could break such loyalty even with my emotions on.”

“I am hoping we won’t have to break any loyalties.” Elijah denied, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Marcel has a…unique history with my family, I would like to try and repair that relationship. New Orleans is too tumultuous at the current time, we need to do something to try and break the animosity in this city.”

“You think repairing the bond between vampires and witches is the way to start.” Elena pondered, taking a breath as she thought to herself for a moment.

“It would appear the most obvious place to begin.” He explained, running a hand through his hair. “There’s too much bad blood with the wolf populous to begin with them; I fear it may start a war if we try and rush it.”

Elena nodded thoughtfully. “You’re putting a lot of trust in someone with no humanity.”

Elijah shook his head. “I’m putting my trust in the girl who undaggered me in the Salvatore house.”

“The same girl daggered you in the first place.” She retorted, struggling to understand why he was so trusting of her.

“She had no choice.” Elijah argued quietly, remembering the desperation Elena had exuded that night. “I never held that night against you, Elena.” He said, just as softly. “If anything, my admiration for your desire to protect your family increased ten-fold.”

“You haven’t told them you’re sick.” Elena said, changing the topic quickly.

“We have no answers yet.” Elijah’s voice was soft as he loosened the tie around his neck. “There is nothing more they can do to help than what we’re already doing.”

“How do you know Rebekah won’t tell them?”

He shrugged. “Rebekah knows Niklaus as well as I do, we cannot risk his reaction with the city in this state.”

Elena laughed. “Of course, Klaus will take it as a personal attack and go off to murder however many people he deems fit.”

“For lack of a better explanation.” Elijah allowed, one side of his mouth tilting up slightly.

“What makes you think I won’t have the same methods?” Elena asked after a moment, looking away from Elijah to watch the moonlight playing on the ripples she’d left in the pool. “After all, chances are this is an attack against one, if not both, of us.”

Elijah stared at the side of Elena’s head for a few long moments before turning his attention in the same direction as hers. “I’m asking you not to.” He said, relenting that that was his only plan to try and keep Elena in line. “I’m asking the young woman who bartered with me for her family’s safety.”

“That person’s not here anymore, Elijah.” She denied just as quietly as he. “I’m not sure she’s been around for a while.”

“What happened?” Elijah asked softly, a frown marring his brow as he turned to look at Elena. “I understand that my sister was the cause for your transition, and the loss of your brother is why you have flipped the switch, but your comment to Niklaus suggests that was not your choice.”

Elena let out a bitter laughed, shaking her head slightly. “A lot happened while you were gone, Elijah.” She said, swallowing thickly when she turned back to look at him and saw the genuine emotions written across his face. Letting out a soft sigh, she flicked her wet hair over her shoulder lightly, she supposed he deserved some honesty in return for his. “We went to find Silas.”

Elijah nodded slightly. “I’m aware, you brought the cure back.”

“We think Katherine followed us to the island somehow, she killed Jeremy there to raise Silas.” She recounted, her voice void of emotion. “I refused to believe he was dead,” she said flippantly, turning to look at Elijah again, “what do you know about the Gilbert rings?”

Elijah shook his head in a small motion. “Not much I must confess, I don’t believe I ever crossed paths with one myself, though I’m aware they can supposedly bring back the wearer if they die from supernatural causes.”

“They can.” Elena corrected. “I’ve seen it enough times.” She sighed, shaking her head to dismiss the invasion of her thoughts. “The ring will protect any humans against a death at the hands of any supernatural,” she explained, “as Jeremy died by Silas’s hand while he was wearing the ring, I was convinced the ring would bring him back to life.”

“It didn’t work.” Elijah said softly, a touch of confusion tinging his tone; frowning to himself as he filled in what Elena had left unspoken.

Elena inclined her head in agreement. “Just before Jeremy died, he became a member of the five; he was no longer human.”

“So, the ring couldn’t resurrect him.” Elijah breathed, running a hand through his hair lightly.

“I didn’t come to my senses for a few days,” Elena recounted, ignoring Elijah, “not until he started to smell.” She shrugged at Elijah’s stunned look. “You really don’t need to look so upset about it, Elijah, I have no emotions, it doesn’t hurt.”

When Elijah didn’t respond, Elena shrugged again. “Anyway, I lost it then, decided I wanted to burn the house down with Jeremy inside, Damon used our sire bond to make me turn it off, I think he was hoping to stop me burning the house down, it didn’t work.” She said flippantly, recalling how beautiful the flames had looked as they’d engulfed her childhood home.

“You’re sired to Damon Salvatore?” Elijah asked, raising an eyebrow, he’d been vaguely aware that a relationship had been developing between Elena and Damon, but for a sire bond to occur, he was shocked.

“Was.” Elena corrected in a hard voice. “A sire bond is born from emotion, I assume that turning off your humanity breaks that link in the same way the hybrids can break their bond to Klaus, and given I felt no inclination to follow Damon back to Mystic Falls, I would say that theory seems pretty solid.”

“Sire bonds are usually something to be treasured.” Elijah mused, frowning at his companion. “Yet you seem to feel the opposite.”

“The sire bond to Damon caused me nothing but trouble.” Elena scoffed. “I couldn’t keep blood down for weeks because of it. My life is better off without it.”

Elijah tilted his head at her curiously. “And Damon?”

Elena laughed. “Are you trying to have girl talk with me, Elijah? We both know you don’t really care about my relationship with Damon.”

“I thought you may appreciate a sounding board.” Elijah shrugged. “My apologies.”

Elena sent a small smile his way at his words, it was bizarre, he seemed to actually care about her.

“It’s strange…” Elena admitted after a few moments of comfortable silence. “I seem to be able to see things more clearly than I could before.”

“And?”

“I’m not sure I like what I see.” She conceded with a shrug. “The emotions I held seem to have clouded my judgment of Damon in ways I’d never realised.” She sighed. “Did you know he abused Caroline?”

Elijah’s brow drew into a frown swiftly at Elena’s words, he’d never met the blonde, but from what he’d heard, he couldn’t ever imagine her being pushed around by someone like Damon.

“Before she transitioned.” Elena explained. “I don’t know the extent of it, I probably never will, but he was awful to her. I fail to understand how I ever saw him as anything else.”

“You sound upset.” Elijah noted softly, cautious of provoking the vampire in front of her, but unable to deny the emotion he could detect bleeding into her voice.

“Perplexed.” Elena corrected, her voice terse. “The switch allows me to see things with a certain clarity I lacked before, but I’m unsure if it will allow me to properly digest the observations.”

“Do you want to?”

“One day, perhaps.” She said, tilting her head at Elijah as she waited for him to question her further. “Have you ever flipped your switch?” She asked when Elijah didn’t speak, tugging his jacket tighter to her body as a cold breeze swept over her.

Elijah shook his head. “The switch is a myth.” He replied, holding up a finger to stop Elena when she tried to interrupt. “It is real for you now, but as we age, we lose our ability to control our emotions in such a way; if it ever existed. You still feel, Elena,” he said softly, when she went to argue again, “to such a lesser degree that one could argue you feel nothing, but the emotions are still there, buried under the surface.”

“Why are you saying this?” Elena asked, swallowing thickly around the lump in her throat, dismissing the emotions as quickly as she had felt them.

“You asked.” Elijah countered, without any malice or want for an argument. “I told you I would not lie to you, this…situation with Hayley and Niklaus is complicated, but I understand that you need a constant in the storm, I hope my honesty will do that for you.”

“Why?” Elena whispered, unable to say anything else as she tried to suppress the emotion bubbling at Elijah’s words.

“Your compassion is a gift, Elena.” He murmured, looking behind her for a moment before focussing his gaze back on her. “It would be a shame if the world lost a soul such as yours. After all my family has done to you, I feel you are owed at least this.”

Elena stared at him for a second before rolling her eyes and standing up from her seat. “You owe me.” She muttered to herself. “Don’t worry, when we find the cause of this sickness, your debt will be repaid in full.” She sneered, stalking past him to the house.

Elijah moved in a blur, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to a stop, she turned to face him, her chest heaving.

“Let go of me, Elijah.” She muttered through gritted teeth, lightly pulling at the wrist he held in his hand.

“I did not mean to imply you were simply a debt to be repaid.” Elijah breathed, looking down at Elena intently, his skin pale under the light the house provided.

“Then what did you mean?” Elena snapped in a harsh whisper, becoming more aware of the closeness between their bodies by the second.

They were interrupted by the sound of cars pulling into the driveway, causing Elijah to loosen his grip on Elena. “It appears your friends are here.” He said softly, his eyes glancing down at his jacket that hung loosely on her frame, the front open loosely. “Perhaps you should dress.”

Elena nodded tersely, grinding her teeth together. “Yeah, perhaps.” She muttered, pulling her arm from his hand and turning to stride into the house, her still damp hair swishing behind her.

Chapter Text

Elena let out a sharp huff of breath, throwing Elijah’s suit jacket onto her bed with a frown. How was it that he was able to aggravate so many emotions so quickly? Her switch was off, and she was damn sure determined for it to stay that way, but Elijah seemed to have other ideas, whether he was doing it on purpose or not.

As much as it irritated her, it wasn’t like she could leave, she and Elijah needed answers; answers she wouldn’t get if she left New Orleans.

She dressed swiftly, a blood red top, with a black jacket and black jeans, she pulled on her boots, absently thinking that she would look like Katherine if not for the streak of colour in her hair.

She was almost surprised when she ran into Hayley in the hallway, the werewolf had pulled on a loose sweater over a pair of leggings, and was frowning, her face weighed down with remnants of the sleep she’d been roused from.

“What’s going on?” She asked, folding her arms over her chest as she looked at Elena.

“Nothing concerning you.” Elena said in a sugary voice, grinning at the brunette who rubbed her just the wrong way for a reason she couldn’t put her finger on. “You should go back to bed, I don’t think you want them to find out about…that.” She trailed, looking pointedly at Hayley’s stomach.

“You know?”

“You sound surprised.” Elena scoffed, running her hand along the back of her neck to collect the hair that was trapped under her jacket, flicking it loose. “I’ve spent enough time with Elijah to learn to pay attention to everything.” She smirked at the wolf, enjoying the flicker of jealousy she could see on her face. “Seriously, the people down there really aren’t fond of Klaus, who knows what they’d do to you if they found out.”

Hayley glanced in the direction of Elijah’s voice, a frown again marring her face before she nodded after a moment. “Okay, thanks, I guess.” She muttered, turning back to her bedroom.

Elena rolled her eyes as the door shut behind Hayley, straightening the front of her jacket before turning sharply on her heel, her still damp hair flicking behind her.

She could hear Rebekah and Klaus joining the cacophony of voices downstairs and sighed; she really wished Elijah hadn’t told the Mystic Falls gaggle where they were staying.

“Must you all be so loud?” Elena asked with a sigh, slipping by the Originals to retrieve a glass of whiskey from their alcohol cart.

“Elena,” Caroline breathed, relief seeping into her tone, “Stefan told us what’s going on, you’re sick?”

Elena rolled her eyes slightly, glad her back was to the rest of the room as she knocked back the alcohol in her hand before pouring another glass. “Guess that cat’s out the bag.”

“Why didn’t you come to me for help?” Bonnie asked, her voice tinged with hurt. “We could’ve fixed this together.”

Elena scoffed. “No offense, Bon, but you’re a bit too…emotional to be useful.”

Bonnie shook her head, her jaw twitching as she looked at her friend. “This isn’t you, Elena.”

“That’s where you wrong, Bonnie, this is exactly me now.” Elena smirked at her friend, sipping at the drink in her hand this time. “Now if you all could leave, I’d like to go to bed.”

“You don’t look like you were sleeping before we showed up.” Damon retorted, folding his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes at the girl in front of him.

Elena shrugged, sitting on the unoccupied end of the couch Elijah sat on; she swung her legs over his lap as she took another mouthful of alcohol. “They have a nice pool outside.”

“Didn’t realise you came packed for a vacation.” Damon snarked.

“I didn’t.”

The dark-haired Salvatore glared at her, his eyes flitting between her face and where her legs lay on Elijah.

“Elena,” Bonnie said softly, trying to placate the tension she could feel radiating from the man beside her, “just let me try a spell, I have the materials already, we can figure out why you’re sick, you and-”

“No.” Elena denied easily, not giving the Originals any chance to jump in, and glad when they didn’t try. “You won’t be performing any magic here, Bonnie. Elijah has a plan, and I’d like an unbiased witch on my side.”

“Elena-”

“That’s the end of it, Bonnie.” Elena interrupted, her tone and gaze hardening as she looked at the witch. “I’m sure the city has plenty of hotels where you can all get some sleep before heading back to Mystic Falls in the morning. I don’t need or want your help.”

“Is this sickness affecting your brain?” Damon snapped. “You’re acting like a crazy person, Elena! Do you seriously think that they care about helping you?”

“They don’t need to care, Damon,” Elena drawled, rolling her eyes, “Elijah and I have an understanding.”

“He’s betrayed you before!”

“We betrayed each other,” Elena shrugged, “and we’ve buried the hatchet, so to speak.” She didn’t miss the curious looks she garnered from the two younger Originals standing behind Elijah; she also noticed Elijah turn his head to look at her, a curious tilt punctuating the movement.

“You heard her, mate.” Klaus interrupted, finally. “You’re not welcome in this house, or in this city.”

“We’re not going anywhere without Elena.” Damon argued instantly, his typical arrogant bravado shining through his demeanour.

“She doesn’t want to leave with you.” Klaus said, his voice hard. “I want you out of my house; I wouldn’t make me repeat myself if I were you.”

“I’d listen to him.” Elena piped up with a grin.

“Damon.” Stefan chimed in before his brother could carry-on arguing. “I don’t think you should push this right now.” He warned, familiar with the look on the hybrids face.

“I agree with Stefan,” Bonnie said, levelling Damon with an even glare when he turned to face her, “if you start a fight with him, I won’t help you.”

“Neither will I.” Caroline agreed. “We need to think about this more.”

“You’re all crazy.” Damon muttered, throwing a final glare in the direction of Elena and Elijah before storming out of the room.

Stefan followed quickly after him, barely sparing Elena a glance as he left. Bonnie shook her head slightly as she looked at Elena, starting to say something before changing her mind and leaving the house.

“We just want to help you, Elena.” Caroline said softly, looking at her friend.

“You want to change me.” Elena denied. “This is who I am now; this is who Damon made me.”

Caroline sighed. “You don’t have to be what Damon made you; you’re your own person.”

“So are you, Caroline.” Elena said softly, tilting her head at the blonde. “Remember that.”

“We’re here for you, Elena, me and Bon. We love you.” Caroline sent Elena a passing smile before leaving the room swiftly, knowing better than to expect any positive answer from her.

“Well, that was all rather dramatic.” Klaus sighed, rolling his eyes. “I’m back off to bed, although it seems not all of us were so rudely awoken.” He said, raising a pointed eyebrow at his brother as he vacated the room.

Rebekah didn’t bother saying anything as she left, her lips pursed slightly at the development between Elijah and Elena. She may prefer the doppelganger with her humanity off, but that didn’t mean she wanted her as a permanent fixture of their family.

Elena knocked back the rest of the drink in her hand, swinging her legs off of Elijah and standing from the sofa.

“Thank you, Elena.” Elijah said softly, effectively stopping her in the doorway. “You didn’t have to stop Bonnie from telling Niklaus.”

“I didn’t do it for you.” Elena said, not turning to face the man behind her.

“Then why did you?” Elijah asked, coming to stand behind her.

“For the sake of my sanity.” Elena replied after a moment, taking a deep breath. “If Klaus found out before you could tell him he’d be unbearable.” She whispered, all too aware of Klaus’s advanced hearing in the house.

“All the same,” Elijah murmured, “thank you, Elena. I hope this can be the beginning of a true alliance, we can look out for each-other.”

“An alliance…” Elena nodded slowly, letting out a long breath. “Yeah.”

She disappeared before Elijah could say anything, leaving him only with a pit in his stomach and a spinning head as he collapsed back onto the couch, rubbing his temples tiredly.

Elena woke with a soft sigh, stretching out languidly in the plush bed the Mikaelson’s house had offered up. She grimaced at the bright sun shining through a small gap in the curtains, rolling onto her side to stop the beams from irritating her eyes any further. She stretched again, rolling her neck to the side and letting out a soft noise of relief when she felt it pop.

The sound of vomiting pierced her cocoon of calm and Elena grimaced, rolling her eyes as she threw the white duvet off of her. Hayley must have morning sickness; it didn’t sound pleasant, how women liked being pregnant she wasn’t sure.

Would she have liked it? If she were human?  The thought was dismissed as quickly as it arrived, a soft shake of her head sending it on it’s way.

Nearly an hour later, she was done indulging in the positively luxurious shower in her adjoined bathroom; she was gently running a comb through her wet hair when a knock sounded at the door.

She called for them to come in, knowing only one member of the household would bother knocking on her door. He slipped in, shutting the door softly behind himself.

“Elena, I was hoping we could discuss-” Elijah cut off abruptly. “You’re naked.” He breathed, swiftly averting his eyes and turning his back on Elena.

She laughed. “Oh please, like you haven’t seen it all before, what, with Tatia and Katherine.”

Elijah swallowed thickly, shaking his head. “Never Tatia.” He whispered, his hands slipping into the pockets of his slacks almost of their own accord.

“Right…” Elena nodded. “Bit old-fashioned back then I suppose.”

“You could say that.” He murmured, intently staring at the door in front of him.

“What’s with the bag?” Elena asked, the duffel bag next to his feet catching her eye.

“Miss Forbes dropped it off for you. She thought you may need some clothes.”

“How sweet.” Elena sneered, wrinkling her nose as she stepped closer to Elijah to retrieve the bag. “Do I make you uncomfortable, Elijah?” She whispered, leaving the bag and trailing a hand across his back as she took in the rigidity of his form.

“I don’t wish to be a cause for regret when you turn your humanity back on.”

“Regret?” Elena prodded, ignoring her surprise at the Original’s honest words.

“You would not be acting this way under normal circumstances,” Elijah said softly, “I will not be a source of guilt for your emotions.”

Elena let out a soft laugh. “Such a man of honour aren’t you, Elijah?” She teased, running her hand along the back of his neck.

“I try.” He said, ignoring Elena’s tone.

Elena hummed, walking her fingers along the side of his throat, Elijah grabbed her wrist as she continued her soft movements, turning his head slightly to catch her eye, a silent word of warning in his gaze.

“What’s wrong, Elijah? Am I testing your limits?”

Elena let out a soft gasp as she found herself pressed against the wall beside the door, Elijah pinning her arms to either side of her head. She grinned, tilting her head as she looked at him curiously. She tugged one of her wrists from his grasp, lightly running a thumb along the veins pulsing under his eyes.

“When was the last time you fed?”

Elijah didn’t reply, allowing Elena to take her other wrist from his hold and mimic her touch on the other side of his face. He closed his eyes, his hands falling to the wall either side of Elena’s head as he forced his vampire visage away.

“Have you had any blood since we left New York?” Elena asked again.

“No.” Elijah said softly, not opening his eyes. “Nothing that I have been able to keep down.”

“You feel it more than you let on, don’t you?” Elijah finally opened his eyes to meet hers as he took a deep breath. “Our sickness, I didn’t think it was affecting you much, but it is.”

Elijah nodded softly. “It comes and goes. From what I can tell, I am not as…physically afflicted as yourself.”

“Well, aren’t you the lucky one.” Elena muttered.

“I am afraid I would have to disagree.”

“Well, we should get you something to eat.” Elena said softly, though neither of them moved. Noticing Elijah’s gaze stray to her neck, she smiled. “Do you want to bite me, Elijah?”

“I have spent the better part of a millennia learning to control my urges.” He muttered, resolute in his words although his gaze did not move from her throat.

“Fat lot of good that’s doing you now.”

“Why do you insist on testing me so?” Elijah rasped, his voice tainted by his hunger. “This…our situation, is not a game, Elena.”

“But its so much fun.”

Elijah let out a soft huff of breath, his head falling forward against hers. “I am not myself, Elena, this is not the time for games.”

“It’s exactly the time.”

Before Elijah could say anything, Elena tugged his face down to meet hers, smiling into the kiss when his hands moved to her still naked waist and pulled her against him.

Chapter Text

Nearly as swiftly as the kiss had started, Elijah broke it, taking hold of Elena’s wrists again and pinning her back against the wall firmly.

“This isn’t right, Elena.” He gasped, his chest heaving. “We are not in our right minds.”

“And?” She rebutted, her breaths coming as harshly as Elijah’s. “Doesn’t it feel right to you?”

“It does,” Elijah admitted, swallowing thickly, “but-”

“But what?” Elena bit out, pulling at Elijah’s grip on her and narrowing her eyes at him. “I’m not Katherine?”

“This isn’t about Katerina.” Elijah said firmly. “There is something else at play here, Elena, can’t you feel it?”

“We both know I don’t feel anything.” Elena snapped, a muscle in her jaw twitching.

Elijah inclined his head somewhat at her words, pulling away from her slightly. “Of course, my mistake.” He said softly. “Get dressed, there are things we need to discuss.”

Before Elena could snap a retort that he didn’t control her anymore than the Salvatores did, he had disappeared from her room; Elena suddenly freezing at the loss of his warmth.

Elena narrowed her eyes at Klaus as she caught the blood bag he threw at her, pursing her lips as the pressure of her hand on the bag caused some of the liquid to slosh onto her skin. Klaus shrugged, throwing his own empty bag in the bin and turning his back on Elena.

“Ugh, I am so over this sickness crap already.” Hayley muttered, walking into the kitchen behind Elena and heading straight to the fridge. After a moment she shut the door with a huff. “Do we seriously not have any milk? I still need to eat normal human food, even if the rest of you don’t.”

“Didn’t realise milk was a requirement.” Elena scoffed, grinning sunnily at the wolf when she turned narrowed eyes in her direction. She sipped at her blood languidly, hiding her smile behind the tubing.

“Do ignore her, Hayley,” Rebekah sighed, entering the room and sitting at the dining room table, “she can be rather tiresome when she wants to be.”

“Wow.” Elena breathed, bringing a hand up to her heart. “You wound me, Bekah, I thought we were almost becoming friends.”

“Oh please.” Rebekah laughed. “You’re more fun like this, but lets not forget you did stab me in the back, Elena.”

“Times must and all that.” Elena let out a whimsical sigh. “I am sorry about that though, Damon didn’t think you’d help us with Klaus.”

Before Rebekah could say anything in reply to Elena, Elijah entered the room, straightening the lapels of his suit jacket. He strode to the fridge and opened it, placing a carton of milk in front of Hayley before turning his attention to Elena.

“May we talk?”

Elena shrugged, inclining her head in a slight nod, watching as Elijah left the room out the corner of her eye. She smirked at Hayley, not missing her pursed lips and narrowed eyes; someone was jealous. It was entertaining, so why did it send a pang of irritation through her?

She binned her empty blood bag as she followed Elijah into his study, flopping lazily into one of the large armchairs in front of his desk as he shut the door behind them, remaining there for a moment before walking around to sit in the chair behind his desk.

“We can talk freely in here,” Elijah started, moving aside some papers on his desk, “I had this room magically soundproofed sometime ago.”

Elena didn’t say anything in response, staring up at the ceiling once she’d adjusted herself to be led across the chair, her legs dangling over one of the arms.

“I would like to apologize for my actions, I-”

A sharp scoff from Elena cut Elijah off quite effectively. “Oh please, just grow a pair and admit that you wanted to do it, so you did! There’s nothing wrong with that, Elijah.”

“It is wrong, Elena! This entire situation is wrong!” He snapped, taking a deep breath and rubbing his temples to try and reign in his control. “I should never have reacted the way I did,” he sighed, staring at the dark wood of his desk as he held his head in his hands, “not then, and not now.”

“You really know how to charm a girl.” Elena muttered.

“That’s not why we’re here, Elena.”

“Oh, I’m very aware!” She bit, rolling her eyes to herself. “I don’t meet up to your high and mighty standards, do I?”

“Stop twisting my words.” Elijah sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We will never make any progress towards remedying this illness if you insist on being so childish.”

“I’m childish?” Elena laughed, swinging her legs around to sit on the chair and glare at Elijah. “I’m childish?” She repeated, her voice rising and finally dragging Elijah’s head up to look at her. “Last I checked, I wasn’t the one lying to everyone around me!”

“That’s different.”

Elena snorted. “Oh, of course, forgive me, I forgot that the almighty Elijah has different rules to play by than the rest of us measly beings!”

“Elena-”

“Don’t ‘Elena’ me!” She snapped, spinning away from him. “You don’t get to sit here and tell me what to do or how to act, I am so sick of people telling me what to do and how to behave, I’m not a little puppet, Elijah!”

“Something’s wrong…” Elijah gasped, his hand clutching at the area of his chest above his heart. “I can’t-”

Elijah cut off his own words, falling from his chair with gasping breaths escaping him.

“Elijah!”

Elena appeared by his side in a second, catching the original just before he could hit the floor.

“I can’t breathe.” He gasped, his hand moving to clasp at his throat desperately, as Elena held his torso up. “Elena, I-”

“Just shut up.” Elena said softly, her words lacking any malice that would be expected to go along with them. “You’re gonna be alright.”

“What’s happening?”

“It’s alright.” Elena murmured, gently pulling Elijah around to sit rather than kneeling awkwardly like he was. “You’re okay.” She sat behind Elijah, her legs either side of him, and moved the remarkably pliable Original to lean against her, his legs straight out in front of him.

His ragged breaths calmed slowly as Elena ran her fingers through his hair in soft movements, his body gradually melting further into Elena. When his breathing returned to normal, he remained leaning against Elena, closing his eyes as he drew some strength from the woman behind him.

“We’re missing something.” Elena muttered, only speaking when she felt that Elijah had fully relaxed against her, and his breathing had returned to normal.

“What do you mean?” Elijah whispered, dropping his hand from his throat to cover the one that Elena had wrapped around his waist.

“There’s something obvious right in front of our faces, and we’re missing it.” She huffed. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m bored.” Elena huffed, throwing herself onto the couch in the lounge area.

Elijah and Klaus both raised an eyebrow at her in near-perfect synchronisation, making Elena laugh.

“I think that’s the first time you’ve ever looked related.”

The brothers shared a glance before looking back at Elena.

“I fail to see what you want us to do about it.” Klaus snarked, ignoring Elijah’s sigh coming from beside him.

“I want to go out.” Elena said firmly, folding her arms over her chest and pursing her lips. “Rebekah and Hayley get to go out.”

“Rebekah and Hayley don’t wear the same faces as two other woman and have magical, mystical properties in their blood.”

“Hayley carries your baby.” Elena retorted, watching as Klaus turned to Elijah, a look of indignation on his face. “Elijah didn’t tell me, it’s not exactly hard to figure out.”

“If you-”

“-say anything to anyone you’ll gut me, string me up, and leave me to die, blah blah blah, I get it.” Elena rolled her eyes. “I don’t care about your weird impossible baby; I was just making a point. I want to go out.”

Klaus only glared at Elena for a moment before rolling his eyes and standing from his armchair. “She’s yours, you deal with her.” He looked at Elijah pointedly before striding out of the room.

“I don’t belong to anyone!” Elena protested, glaring at the now empty doorway that Klaus had left through. “Unbelievable.” She muttered to herself, shaking her head.

“Elena…”

“Don’t start with that tone, Elijah.” She interrupted immediately. “I am so sick of hearing that tone of voice from you, you cannot keep me cooped up here forever!”

“I do not intend to,” Elijah sighed, closing and putting aside the book he’d been reading, “but it isn’t safe for you in this city.”

“I’m not a fragile, little human anymore!” Elena snapped, glaring at the man in front of her. “I can take care of myself.”

“The vampires in this city have centuries on you, Elena. While I am sure you have a surprising ability to look after yourself, if Marcel discovers your presence here, he will stop at nothing to attain you and use you against us.”

“Self-preservation, of course.” Elena sneered. “I shouldn’t be surprised really.” She stood from the sofa in one, swift movement, storming out of the room.

“Elena-”

“Don’t touch me!” She snapped, spinning around and throwing his arm off her shoulder. “You have no right.”

“Where are you going?” Elijah called after her as she marched into the hallway, lacking the energy to continue to fight with her; he felt rather ill all of a sudden.

“Out!” Elena shouted, slamming the front door behind her as she left the plantation house.

“Congratulations, brother.” Klaus drawled, leaning against the kitchen doorframe. “Amazing work.”

“Do shove off, Niklaus.” The older brother muttered, reclaiming his seat with a sigh; he wasn’t completely sure if it was the illness making him talk so, or spending too much time with Rebekah.

Somewhere in Elena, she could recognise the irony in finding her way to a church.

After her actions for the past few weeks, it seemed totally absurd that her wandering had brought her to a place of worship and repentance.

She stood stalk still for several minutes, staring at the building in front of her with a cocked head, something drawing her to the old house of worship.

“I’ve always heard that these places work the best if you actually go inside.”

The voice startled her from her confused reverie, and she jumped, turning to look at the man who’d managed to sneak up on her while she’d been distracted.

“Then what are you doing out here?” She countered quickly, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Offering a word of advice to a beautiful lady.” He shrugged, grinning at Elena.

“Well, aren’t you a smooth talker.” Elena smirked, her eyes travelling down his form curiously.

“I try.” He grinned again, holding a hand out in Elena’s direction. “I’m Marcel.”

“Elena.” She returned, placing a hand in his, smiling when he brought it up to his lips and placed a kiss on it. Absently, she wondered if Elijah and Klaus were wrong about Marcel. Perhaps he didn’t know the significance of the face she wore? Although, historically, attractive men who made a point of chatting up Elena tended only to do so because of her face. Speaking on a matter of probability, Marcel likely knew who she was, but he most likely didn’t know that she was aware of him…somewhat.

“Forgive me if I’m overstepping, but I assume you don’t practice very often.”

Elena shrugged, taking her hand back when he released his gentle hold on it. “Definitely not recently, but I guess I’ve never really put much stock in some almighty being who has a plan for everyone, and looks out for you if you pray hard enough.”

“You sound rather bitter about it.” Marcel prodded, tilting his head at her.

“My parents died in a car crash when I was seventeen,” Elena offered easily, forcing some emotion into her voice, “I was in the car with them when it happened.”

“I’m sorry.” Marcel murmured, a surprising hint of sincerity in his voice; either he was a good actor, or he was genuinely sorry for her.

“It was a while ago.” Elena shrugged, looking at the dirt below her feet and slipping her hands into her back pockets.

“Is that why you won’t go in?”

“I’m undecided as of now.” Elena denied, looking up at the older vampire and smiling softly, before looking away at the trees behind him. “Truth is, I’m not sure I’d be welcome in there.” She whispered, conspiratorially. “I’ve done some…bad things lately.”

“Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I do believe churches are historically a place of forgiveness and repentance.”

Elena looked back at Marcel, smiling again, and letting out a soft laugh. “I don’t know if I want to repent.”

“You don’t seem like the sort of girl who likes hurting others.”

“I never said I hurt people.”

“I felt it was implied.” Marcel rebutted quickly, raising an eyebrow at the brunette. “You seem rather defensive all of a sudden.”

“A stranger is asking me personal questions.” Elena returned, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

“Of course, my apologies.” Marcel said easily, turning his gaze from Elena to the church behind her. “Although, if I may, if you don’t want repentance, why are you still here?”

Elena let out a soft huff of breath, turning to look at the building behind her as well, not caring that she was turning her back on the very vampire she’d been warned about several times over. “I’m not entirely sure.” She mused softly, tilting her head as she inspected the worn stone. “There’s something about this place, I feel kind of drawn to it, it’s weird.” She dismissed, rolling her eyes to herself and turning back to Marcel. “Why are you here?”

“Visiting a friend.” He shrugged.

“God?” Elena inquired, quirking an eyebrow lightly.

Marcel laughed, shaking his head. “No, I can’t say I’m much of a follower either.”

“That surprises me.” Elena admitted, tilting her head at him.

“Why?” Marcel laughed again, folding his arms over his chest, not threateningly, just comfortably. “You’ve only just met me.”

“I don’t know.” Elena shrugged. “Guess you just strike me as the religious type.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment.” Marcel conceded. “Come inside with me?” He offered. “You can see what all the fuss is about.”

“Sure.”

It crossed her mind that she could be following the lion into his den; perhaps Elijah had been right about Marcel, maybe he was trying to trap her. Who was she kidding? Elijah could shove it. Where did he get off telling her what to do and who to trust?

Chapter Text

“This place is beautiful.” Elena murmured, gazing around at the overlooking balconies, and admiring the statues that adorned the alter. “It doesn’t seem right that it’s so empty in here.”

“There was a massacre.” Marcel said softly, taking a seat in one of the middle pews. “One of the seminary students lost his mind, killed nine other students and then himself.”

“Wow.” Elena pursed her lips and nodded slightly, sitting down in the pew across the aisle from Marcel’s. “That’s dark.”

“You could say that.” Marcel shrugged slightly, tilting his head as he considered the girl in front of him. “I’m sure the families would agree with the sentiment, even if they don’t the wording.” He added as an afterthought.

Elena let out a soft laugh, shaking her head slightly. “I guess that’s true, I’m not always the most sensitive.”

“That surprises me.” Marcel remarked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“I used to be.” She shrugged slightly, taking a breath and glancing around their surroundings before looking back at Marcel. “Once upon a time.”

“What happened?” He prodded softly, a frown marring his features.

“I cared too much.” Elena muttered, after several moments of deliberation. “It burned a bit too closely, I guess.”

“Is that why you turned off your humanity?”

Elena looked at him in surprise, a deliberately vacant look settling over her face a second later.

“I’ve been a vampire a while, Elena, after some time you learn how to tell the difference.” Marcel explained, answering her unasked question.

“If you know then why are you asking so many questions about my feelings?” She sneered the last word, grimacing at the very thought of the things tucked away so very neatly.

“I was trying to get a feel of you as a person.” He shrugged, tilting his head at her curiously when she rolled her eyes and stood up from her pew.

“It was nice to meet you, Marcel, but I’m pretty sick of being manipulated nowadays, so if you’ll excuse me.” Elena quipped, turning her back on the vampire with a sharp movement, her hair flicking behind her.

“Stay.”

Elena rolled her eyes again, not bothering to turn and look at the vampire behind her. “I’m good thanks.” She huffed, pulling the handle of the church door; frowning when it wouldn’t open.

“I’m afraid that wasn’t a request, Elena.” Marcel clarified, standing from his seat as the brunette turned to face him, her lips pursed and eyes narrowed.

“You think you can keep me here?” She scoffed, her body tensing as she assessed the man in front of her, she wasn’t sure how well she’d come off in a fight, but she’d be damned if she made it easy for him.

“I don’t have to.” Marcel shrugged, ghosting to Elena’s side as her eyes rolled back into her head and catching her as she fell. “Davina’s got that covered.” He muttered to himself, manoeuvring the unconscious girl into his arms.

“What do you mean, ‘she left’?” Rebekah asked, glaring at her older brother, hands on her hips as she stared him down over his desk. “You let her leave?”

“I cannot control her, Rebekah.” Elijah sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his brow tiredly. His skin was pale and clammy as he looked back at Rebekah with lidded eyes. “I found I did not have the energy to stop her.” He admitted, watching as his little sister’s gaze softened and her body relaxed as the anger seeped out of her.

“You still haven’t told Nik.” She said softly, relaxing into an armchair.

“Neither have you.” Elijah returned. “I believe our reasons are somewhat similar.”

“He could know something, Elijah.”

Elijah let out another soft sigh, regarding her with a pensive expression. “He could,” he said eventually, “but the risk of him acting out is too great, relations here are already on tenterhooks.”

“We can deal with Nik.” Rebekah reassured him softly. “He knows how important this city is.”

“I fear Niklaus is not as cautious as you or I.”

“He’d move heaven to help you, Elijah.” She said, smiling at him sadly. “He loves you. Love isn’t a weakness, despite what you and Nik believe. In fact, I think it might be just what you need.”

“I’ve always admired your faith in our family.” Elijah smiled at his sister, running a hand through his hair. “Even if I fear it may be misplaced.”

Rebekah let out a soft laugh, shaking her head slightly. “How long has she been gone?”

“An hour,” Elijah sighed, “maybe two.”

“And you’re not worried about her?”

Elijah shrugged, finding himself acting more and more out of character as the days wore on since he’d become ill. “Elena is a grown woman, she can make her own choices, and her own mistakes.” He added as an afterthought.

“Your opinion on the matter seems to have changed rather quickly.” Rebekah said pointedly, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I’m tired, Rebekah.” Elijah admitted, feeling his age for the first time in a thousand years. “Whatever this illness is, I-I grow more weary with each passing day.”

“Do you have any idea what’s causing it?” Rebekah asked, her eyes flitting over her brother’s form for any sign of physical malady, the clamminess of his skin being the only thing she landed on.

Elijah shook his head. “I’ve been reading a grimoire on sickness, but there’s very little covering the topic on vampires, and nothing that matches what Elena and I are experiencing. What is it?” He asked, noticing the frown that marred Rebekah’s face when he mentioned Elena.

“I just don’t understand, why are you and Elena, of all people, suffering from the same thing? It doesn’t make sense.” Rebekah shook her head biting her lip. “I don’t speak from my dislike of the girl, it just seems…bizarre, especially if we’re considering the possibility this is an attack on our family.”

Elijah nodded slowly, pursing his lips as he considered his sisters words. “Elena believes us to be missing something obvious.” He mused, more to himself than to Rebekah, his lips turning down into a soft frown.

“Do you think she’s right?”

Elijah sighed, leaning forward and placing his elbows on the desk, dropping his head into his hands. “I don’t know.” He muttered, dragging his hands over his face as he looked at Rebekah. “My head is so clouded I can barely think straight. I can’t remember ever feeling so…lost.” He settled on eventually, any better words escaping him as his head fell back into his hands.

“Elijah…” Rebekah didn’t know what to say, Elijah had never allowed himself to be so vulnerable around other people, let alone put a voice to his own vulnerability.

“She kissed me, this morning.” He whispered, either not hearing or ignoring Rebekah entirely. “In her room.”

“Her emotions are off, Elijah,” she reminded him, gently but firmly, “you know as well as I do that she’s trying to push everyone’s buttons.”

“I know,” he didn’t move his head from his hands, lightly pulling at his hair for a moment before releasing it, “there was…something more to it, I can’t put my finger on what, it almost…it felt like something was pushing us together. I can’t explain it.” He muttered, too aware of how he sounded.

“We need to tell Nik.” Rebekah said softly, narrowing her eyes at Elijah when he looked up at her to argue. “Something is wrong with you; he deserves to know.”

“I’m scared, Bekah.” Elijah admitted, his chin resting on his hands.

“We will find out what’s causing this, Elijah. I swear, we will.”

“She doesn’t look dangerous.” Elena didn’t recognise the voice, but then, she wasn’t entirely sure it was real.

“D, we’ve talked about this.” That was Marcel, she definitely recognised that voice.

Silence reigned for a few minutes, long enough for Elena to think she’d passed out again.

“Okay, fine, I promise.”

Promise? What did she promise? Where was she? Who was the girl? The witch Elijah suspected Marcel had onside?

Before Elena could try to answer any of the questions bubbling in her half lucid mind, she felt herself falling asleep again.

“She’s been gone for hours!” Klaus snapped, pacing the length of the living room. “Marcel must have her. Why did you let her leave?”

“I failed to notice you stopping her, Niklaus.” Elijah sighed, massaging his temples lightly.

“She’s not my responsibility!” Klaus shouted, glaring at his brother. “You told me that you would take responsibility for her if you brought her here!”

Elijah didn’t say anything, only looked at Rebekah tiredly, ignoring the look that Hayley and Klaus shared between themselves.

“What the bloody hell is going on with you?” Klaus snapped, fed up with Elijah’s antics. “I’m not entirely stupid, Elijah, something’s going on.”

“He deserves to know, Elijah.” Rebekah interjected quickly, folding her arms over her chest and staring her oldest brother down.

“Deserves to know what, Rebekah?” Klaus gritted, resisting the urge to grab one of the daggers he held hostage.

“Elijah and Elena are sick.” Rebekah said quickly, ignoring the glare that Elijah shot her way. “We don’t know what’s causing it or how to fix it.”

“That’s why you insist on bringing her to New Orleans.” Klaus muttered, folding his arms over his chest much like Rebekah and narrowing his eyes at his brother. “You didn’t think I should know any of this?”

“You are not known for your rationality, Niklaus. I couldn’t trust that you would not act out if you were aware.”

“Why shouldn’t I? This is an attack on our family and whoever is responsible deserves to be punished!”

“We don’t know that this is an attack on us.” Elijah explained calmly. “Elena is sick also, anyone looking to attack our family would have no reason to target Elena.”

“Elijah’s right, Nik.” Rebekah interrupted, trying to keep her brothers from spiralling into a full-blown argument. “Chances are this is nothing to do with our family, but we need the power in this city to figure it out, and we can’t do that if you go off half-cocked and start a war.”

Klaus didn’t reply to his sister, staring her down for a moment before giving in when he saw the resolution in her eyes, shaking his head slightly. “We need to find Elena.” He sighed. “Who knows what bloody trouble she’s gotten herself into.”

“Uhm, why do we care?” Hayley asked, finally broaching the question that had been on her mind since Elena had arrived with Rebekah and Elijah. “I don’t see why I should care about the doppelganger.” She shrugged at the looks she garnered, feeling suddenly uncomfortable with their attention on her.

“It doesn’t matter,” Klaus said before either of the others could talk, “because you’re staying here.”

“What?” Hayley protested, glaring at Klaus. “You can’t keep me here!”

“You just said yourself you don’t care about Elena. You and Elijah will stay here.” Klaus said firmly, turning to his brother before he could argue. “You look like crap, Elijah, you’re in no bloody state to be out looking for Elena. Rebekah and I will deal with this. You and Hayley can research your condition in the meantime.”

It was quiet when Elena woke up, the only sounds she could hear were a soft scratching accompanied by equally soft breathing.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly, feeling like her eyelids themselves weighed a tonne as she fought off the tiredness that still overwhelmed her body. It must be a side-effect of whatever Marcel’s witch did, she thought groggily. It couldn’t be her illness; it was too extreme too fast.

She finally managed to get her eyes open and assessed the room around her, surprised to note that she was in a bedroom? Why the hell was she in a bedroom? In an attic?

Elena frowned to herself as she tried to convince her heavy limbs to move, agitated when they refused.

“Hello.”

A soft, musical voice drew Elena’s attention to her left and she spun her head around to look at the owner, her brow furrowing when she was met with a girl wearing a white, flowing dress. An easel sat next to her, presumably the source of the scratching.

“What are you, like, fourteen?”

“I’m sixteen.” She denied, rather indignantly, folding her arms across her chest and raising her chin in defiance as she looked at Elena.

“Right, sixteen.” Elena nodded, tilting her head and smirking at the girl in front of her. “I remember sixteen. World on your shoulders, suddenly feeling like you have to be a grown up and make all the right choices.”

Davina frowned at her, pursing her lips slightly as she considered her words. “You don’t look much older than me.” She retorted, her eyes assessing the vampire in front of her.

“I’m twenty-one.” Elena shrugged, only then noticing the lack of binds holding her to the chair she found herself in. “It’s only a five-year difference, but it might as well be a century.”

“Does that mean you’ve been twenty-one for a century?” Davina asked curiously, making Elena smile.

“No, I haven’t been a vampire very long at all really.”

Elena watched, slightly amused, as the girl in front of her nodded slowly, her eyes wide as she took in every morsel of information Elena gave her.

“What’s your name?” Elena asked, looking at her curiously. “You must have one.”

“Davina.” She said softly, pulling a chair forward to sit opposite Elena. “What’s your name?”

“Elena. Marcel didn’t tell you about me?”

“No.” Davina acknowledged easily, her arms again folding over her chest, seemingly without much thought for the movement. “He told me that you’re important, and I shouldn’t trust you; vampires are dangerous.”

“But you trust Marcel.” Elena said, a statement not a question. “Why?”

“He saved my life.” Davina smiled to herself. “I trust him more than anything, so I believe him when he says I can’t trust you.”

Chapter Text

“Neither of you know me.” Despite her lack of emotions, Elena felt slightly indignant at the fact that she was being portrayed as someone who couldn’t be trusted. She rolled her shoulders slightly, limited to only tiny movements by whatever spell Davina had holding her down, and frowned at the young girl in front of her; ironically, irritated by the irritation she felt in that moment.

“You’re friends with the Old Ones.” Davina said, with the conviction that only a teenager could carry. “No one who associates with them can be trusted.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m friends with them.” Elena grimaced. “Elijah and I have a mutual interest, that’s all.”

“Elijah…” Davina muttered, her eyes flicking upwards for a moment before looking back at Elena. “He’s the one they call honourable.”

Elena nodded after a second, her lips quirking downwards slightly. “I shouldn’t be surprised that that’s the reputation he holds.”

“You know him well?”

Elena smiled to herself, shaking her head slightly. Davina was so innocently curious; in a way, she reminded Elena of herself, perhaps if her emotions were on that would be making her feel something other than amusement. “Probably better than most people,” Elena shrugged, “our…relationship is pretty complicated.”

Davina nodded slowly, biting her lip as she considered her next words. “Marcel told me you don’t feel anything.” She stated quietly, Elena only raised an eyebrow in response, sensing an unasked question. “What’s it like?” She asked eventually, glancing at the floor as though embarrassed before she swallowed and looked back at Elena, her chin raised resolutely.

Elena supressed another smile at the girl’s actions, if she wasn’t a child Elena was sure the thought of taking her for a snack when she was freed would’ve occurred to her. Emotions or not, there were some lines you just couldn’t cross. Kids was one of them.

She let out a soft sigh, rolling her neck as she considered Davina’s question. “Freedom.” She settled on eventually. “It’s like freedom.” When Davina said nothing in response, her small form leaching curiosity, Elena continued. “I feel truly free, for the first time in a long time. There’s no hurt, no guilt, no doubts.”

“No love?” The teenager asked softly, frowning at Elena when she shook her head to confirm her words. “I can’t imagine enjoying a life without love.” She admitted, rubbing her hands together unconsciously as she thought.

“With the lives we lead in this world, there comes a time when love is more painful than anything.” Elena said, her voice a soft whisper as she stared at the floor, irritated with the girl for making her truly think about her emotions for the first time since she’d flipped her switch.

“What happened to you?” Davina probed gently, her curiosity only growing.

“It’s a pretty long story.” Elena muttered, suddenly wishing that the girl would stop asking so many questions.

“We’ve got plenty of time.” Davina grinned at her sunnily, crossing her legs and folding her arms over her chest as she settled into her chair, waiting for Elena to start talking.

“What do you mean, she’s not here?” Damon shouted, glaring at the oldest Original.

“I feel that’s a rather self-explanatory statement, Mr Salvatore.” Elijah sighed, turning a page of the grimoire he was reading. Hayley snorted, studying her own book.

“Where the hell is she?” Damon snapped, not at all amused by Elijah’s sarcasm.

“Not in the quarter.” Klaus announced, slamming the door behind himself and Rebekah, and rolling his eyes when he noticed Elena’s gaggle of friends taking up his lounge.

“You lost her?” Caroline screeched, the first to process Klaus’s words. “How did you lose her?”

“She left.” Rebekah corrected, rolling her eyes and accepting the glass of whiskey Klaus offered her. “Now we can’t find her, completely different to losing her!”

“Not sure it’s a distinction worth making.” Damon snarked, glaring at the siblings. “You’re supposed to be keeping her in check!”

“We never said anything about that, mate.” Klaus corrected, narrowing his eyes at the elder Salvatore. “Elena left of her own accord, if she’s gotten herself in trouble, it’s her own problem.”

“Then why are you out looking for her?” Caroline asked softly, tilting her head at the hybrid. “If it’s her own problem, that is.”

“We have our reasons, love.” Klaus raised an eyebrow at her as she glared at him. “Unfortunately for you, they don’t concern you.”

“Elena is our concern.” Damon snapped. “We never should’ve left her here with you!”

“She’s not a possession to be thrown around.” Elijah drawled, his voice sounding relatively blasé to everyone other than his siblings, who could hear the edge to his voice. “She is free to make her own decisions.”

“Not when she’s making the wrong ones.” Damon spat, turning away from the Original and storming from the house. “Come on, Stef, we’d better go clean up their mess.”

Stefan sighed, but followed after his brother, determined to keep him from making anymore stupid decisions.

“You’re doing research?” Bonnie asked, moving to stand behind Elijah and tilting her head to look at the pages of his book. “Have you found anything that could help?”

Elijah shook his head, letting out a soft sigh. “No, there’s almost no content on illness in vampires; anything that does reference maladies in our kind requires a witch’s diagnosis.”

“Okay?” Bonnie said, not seeing the problem with what Elijah said. “I can do that now if we have the right ingredients.”

“Probably not the best idea, love.” Rebekah interrupted. “Magic is currently forbidden in New Orleans, thanks to Marcel, its punishable by death.”

“How can one man ban magic in the entire city?” Caroline asked, stunned by the revelation. “How is that possible?”

“We don’t know.” Klaus huffed, pursing his lips in irritation. “We have yet to figure that out.”

“Right,” Caroline sighed, “we need to deal with one thing at a time. We need to go find Elena. Bon?”

“I’ll stay here.” Bonnie agreed easily, sensing what Caroline was thinking. “I’ll help Elijah with the research.”

“Rebekah?”

“Yeah.” Rebekah sighed, knocking back the rest of her drink and nodding at her hybrid brother. “Let’s go.”

“Jeremy died recently.” Elena sighed, swallowing around the slight burn in her throat from talking so much. “Katherine murdered him; Damon used the sire bond to make me turn off my emotions, and here we are.” She shrugged, amused at Davina’s aghast look.

“I’m sorry.” Davina said softly. “You’ve been through so much.”

“You really mean that, don’t you?” Elena tilted her head curiously before letting out a soft laugh. “I would’ve been you once, it feels like forever ago now.”

“You’ve dealt with a lot, I guess I understand why you feel the way you do now.” She mused out loud, regarding Elena with intrigue and sadness. “Do you ever regret not mourning Jeremy fully?”

“I don’t regret anything.” Elena snapped, glaring at the young witch. “We’ve covered that already.”

“Do you think you will?” Davina prodded, not seeming to notice the danger of prodding an already angered vampire. “If you get your emotions back?”

“Maybe.” Elena bit out, grinding her teeth together slightly and forcing herself to take a calming breath. “I don’t ever imagine I’ll be getting my emotions back.”

“And if they were forced upon you?”

“I’d kill anyone who tried.” Elena snarled, not liking the direction the conversation was turning; she’d already told Davina everything about her life in Mystic Falls, and now she was suggesting taking away her freedom? Was this girl that naïve, or just stupid?

Davina nodded slightly. “It’s not nice having choices taken away from you. I understand that.”

Elena relaxed slightly at the words; just naïve it was. “What happened to you, Davina? Why are you living up here?”

“Hiding.” Davina admitted softly. “Marcel keeps me safe and I help him control the witches.”

“I thought all witches thought of each other as family.” Elena frowned, not sure how she was managing to be more and more confused by the moment. “Shouldn’t you want to stop them being hurt?”

“No.” Davina’s voice was hard and resolute as she stood from the chair she’d been sat in, circling around to look back at Elena. “They deserve it.”

“Why would you say that?” Elena asked, the sudden venom coming from the young girl surprising her.

“Because they're liars.” Davina muttered like it was obvious. “All of them. They made me and my friends do this Harvest ritual.” She continued after a moment. “They said our participation would bring our family strength, health...that we'd forever be celebrated as saviours of the community. But all they really wanted was more power. So, I left before they could get it. Now, they're running out of time, because after the Harvest, comes the Reaping. And if they don't complete the Harvest, there won't be a Reaping. Soon, all the witches in the Quarter will start to lose their power. Eventually, they will cease to be witches altogether.”

Elena ignored the feeling that Davina was skipping over some parts of the story, choosing instead to ask the more forefront question on her mind. “What does it take to complete this ritual?”

“I have to die.” Davina sighed, smiling at Elena softly. “I’m sure you understand how that feels.”

Elena scoffed. “That’s putting it lightly, but yeah, I do.” She sighed. “What is the harvest? Why do you have to die for it?”

“That's what the Harvest was.” Davina said sadly, her eyes glancing at her easel in the corner. “They said they'd put us four girls in a state of, like, peaceful limbo as part of the offering. And then later, at the Reaping, we'd awaken and be reborn. I never got as far as the limbo part, which means the Harvest isn't complete. That's why the witches are so freaked out. The Reaping is just around the corner, and if they don't finish it before then, it's over. All I have to do is wait it out.”

“Then what?” Elena prodded.

“They're punished, and I'm free.”

“Free from what?” Elena asked, her immediate thought jumped to Marcel, maybe he was keeping her here to make sure the witches lost their powers? She dismissed that thought quickly, Davina seemed to love Marcel; she wasn’t a prisoner.

“Of magic. All our power will drain away. I'll be normal.” Davina smiled at Elena, smoothing down her dress gently.

“Is that what you want? To be normal?” Elena frowned, she could vaguely remember the wants of her past life, when she was human; she’d wanted nothing more than to be normal, but now? She couldn’t think of anything worse than going back to normality.

“I just don't wanna be what I am. I can't control it sometimes. Magic. I...” Davina shook her head, trailing off as she began to cry, “…hurt people. Even when I don't mean to.”

Elena tilted her head at the girl in front of her, unsure what to say to her, but wanting her to stop crying. She hated crying so much. “Did you have friends? You must miss them.” She tried, hoping it wouldn’t make the girl cry more.

Davina smiled slightly, wiping away a tear. “There's Tim. He doesn't know about any of this witch stuff. He's normal. My best friend, Monique. She was a part of the Harvest too. She's lucky. No one ever fought for me, but someone fought for her. The only one who ever spoke out against the Harvest was Monique's aunt.”

“Her aunt? Who’s that?” Elena prodded, grateful to be away from the tears, the cogs in her brain turning at the new addition, perhaps this aunt could be useful.

“Sophie Deveraux.”

“No one but Sophie ever questioned the Harvest. Not even my own mother. So, neither did I. We thought it was such an honor, we had such faith. We were so stupid.” Davina scoffed, shaking her head slightly.

“What happened?”

“We were led out like princesses. My mother was so proud.” Davina rolled her eyes, her lips pursing slightly as she appeared to be fighting back tears. “Bastianna, one of the elders, called upon the four elements to bind our past and future magic together. Earth, to connect us to our ancestors. Water, to heal the community. Wind, to carry us to our ancestors and back. Fire, to purify. After all our preparation, we knew exactly what to expect.

For weeks, they told us that the magic in the knife they used to cut our palms would put us to sleep, and that later at the Reaping, we would all be resurrected. They said we'd awaken, and all be together and more powerful than ever. And it was just like we rehearsed it. All that was left was a little cut on our palms for the blood sacrifice. Even after Sophie tried to stop it, we didn't suspect anything.” Davina sighed again, shaking her head at her own naivety. “They slit Abigail’s throat.” She said eventually, her voice hitching slightly.

“Everyone involved knew it would happen.” Elena breathed, a surprising rage filling her as she imagined children like Davina being butchered.

“Except the four of us.” Davina nodded. “They weren't putting us to sleep, they were slaughtering us! I begged for someone to help. My own mother turned away from me. Sophie screamed and screamed for her sister, anyone, to do something. But no one did.”

“But you survived.” Elena denied. “Someone helped you.” 

Davina nodded, another tear falling from her eye. “Yes. Someone finally did.”

“Marcel.” Elena realised; her loyalty to the vampire finally making sense.

Davina nodded. “They managed to get Monique before the vampires could stop them. Every girl who died released her power on to the next. When I was the last one, I suddenly had all of it-- all the power that was supposed to be released back into the earth to appease our ancestors.”

Elena’s eyes grew wide, that’s how she was so powerful; why she could track the witches through all of New Orleans. “The Harvest was actually working?”

“Something was working.” Davina corrected harshly. “And I knew that I was supposed to be killed so the Harvest could be completed, and we would all be resurrected. But, they lied to us about how they were killing us. How do I know they weren't lying to us about coming back? But mostly, I just didn't want to die. So, I let him save me. Marcel saved my life.”

“You want the witches punished.” Elena nodded, letting out a soft laugh. “I can’t blame you, if I had any say in the matter, I’d kill the lot of them.”

“You don’t feel anything.” Davina reminded her, raising an eyebrow.

“People don’t hurt kids.” Elena said firmly. “Emotions or not, that’s a line you don’t cross. Especially your own damn kids.”

Chapter Text

"Marcel's here." Elena said softly, turning her head in the direction of the door and tilting her head as she heard Marcel quietly talking with another man. "He won't be very happy that you've been talking to me." She raised an eyebrow at the young girl in front of her as she sighed and walked back to stand in front of her easel.

"Marcel doesn't control me." Davina murmured, picking up a piece of charcoal and starting, or continuing, to sketch.

"He cares about you," Elena said, tilting her head at Davina, "does that not worry you?"

"Why would it?"

"He's a vampire, we're selfish creatures, Davina."

"Marcel wouldn't hurt me." Davina said firmly, narrowing her eyes at Elena as she resisted the urge to send a wave of pain in the doppelganger's direction.

"I've been where you are, Davina," Elena muttered, "don't make the same mistakes I did."

The two girls shared a look for a few moments before Marcel opened the door, interrupting the slightly tense atmosphere between the brunettes.

"Elena!" Marcel grinned at her, shutting the door behind him. "Glad to see you're up!"

Elena raised an eyebrow at him, pursing her lips slightly as she frowned at the man in front of her. "So, you did approach me because I'm a doppelganger."

Marcel shrugged. "That's not the only reason." He rolled his eyes as he folded his arms over his chest. "Imagine my surprise when I found out the Mikaelsons were back in my city, carting the doppelganger around with them nonetheless."

"They're not carting me around." Elena bit, her eyes narrow as she tried to assess exactly what he wanted. "I'm here of my own volition."

"With the man who killed you?" Marcel asked, raising a pointed eyebrow. "I know about the requirements for the sun and the moon curse; I assume that's how you were turned."

"No." Elena sighed, rolling her eyes internally, not thrilled with having the explain everything again. "He killed me to break his curse, but I survived with the help of magic." She shrugged, smiling when he looked slightly stunned at her blasé attitude. "I died a few years later, thanks to Rebekah's intervention."

"Two of them killed you, and yet you're here with them?" Marcel asked in disbelief. "Are you compelled?"

Elena laughed, shaking her head. "Don't be ridiculous. If I was under compulsion, I wouldn't be able to leave their sight."

Marcel inclined his head in agreement, raising an eyebrow at her. "Why are you here, Elena? This city is mine; I won't allow a coup."

"Oh, please." Elena scoffed. "I don't care about your damn city. I need something, and I think you and Davina might be just the help I'm after."

"If you think I'll let you use Davina for your own ends, you've got another think coming."

"I don't want to use her, I want her help, and I can help her in return."

"Help me with what?" Davina asked softly, interrupting the tense conversation between Elena and Marcel.

"Do you really think that the witches would just let their magic fade away as a consequence for the Harvest not being repeated?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow at Davina and Marcel. "I've had a decent bit of experience with witches, and they love their consequences, they wouldn't let anyone off with just a slap on the wrist, especially a Harvest girl responsible for the ritual failing."

"Are you threatening her?" Marcel growled, the veins under his eyes appearing as he glared at Elena.

"I'm telling her the truth." Elena snapped. "She deserves to know."

"Marcel?" Davina asked softly, turning to him with wide eyes.

"I don't know what she's talking about, D, I promise."

"Of course, he doesn't." Elena rolled her eyes. "You're all too hampered by your silly emotions to think clearly! Did you seriously think you could just steal her away from the Harvest without any repercussions?"

"I see you two have been talking." Marcel sighed, deflecting the question smoothly. "Thought I told you she was dangerous, D."

"I'm no more dangerous than I'm sure you are, Marcel." Elena quipped. "By now, you should know that witches are nasty business, more-so when you cross them."

"Marcel." Davina interrupted softly as he went to snap at Elena again, gently placing a hand on his arm. "What do you need my help for?" She asked, turning her attention to Elena.

Her eyes flitted between the pair in front of her as she weighed her options, admitting she was sick gave them leverage on her, and she didn't have anything concrete to hold over them, nor did she trust them yet. But, she had to gain their trust somehow, lying to them wouldn't help that, and, would they really care enough to harm Elena? Especially if she didn't reveal Elijah was also ill.

"Elena?" Davina prompted softly, dragging her back out of her thoughts.

"I'm sick." Elena drawled, pursing her lips slightly as she let out a soft sigh. "I don't know why, or how to fix it."

"That's why you're in New Orleans." Marcel surmised, frowning only a split-second later. "Why are you with the Originals? A vampire doppelganger is useless to Klaus."

Elena shrugged. "I guess Elijah's fascinated by me," she quipped, rolling her eyes, "I think he's just trying to keep an eye on me; he was more fond of my humanity than he is this new me."

"You're with Elijah?" Davina blurted, her eyes wide with shock.

Elena laughed. "In his dreams maybe. He's just fun to play with at the moment." She shrugged when Marcel rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Marcel, don't tell me you haven't had an emotionless stint before."

"The switch doesn't work after a certain point, Elena." Marcel said firmly.

"That's basically a yes." Elena pointed out, pretending not to notice as Davina smothered a soft giggle, reminding her that she really was just a teenage girl stood in front of her. "Elijah's already told me it stops existing, but that doesn't mean I'm going to turn it back on now."

Marcel shrugged.

"That's it?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm kinda used to people giving me the spiel that I'll regret this and I should turn my humanity back on before it's too late."

"You're not my responsibility, Elena, as long as you don't leave a trail of bodies in my city, I don't care about your humanity."

"I don't have my emotions, but I can see how much you care about Davina, Marcel, I want to help you help her." Elena said earnestly. "I know a Bennett witch who can help figure out what's going to happen, and Elijah can provide grimoires to help."

"I don't trust the Mikaelsons." Marcel refuted quickly, shaking his head.

"She's sixteen, Marcel, they won't hurt her."

"I am here, you know." Davina laughed softly, pulling the attention of the vampires to herself as they nearly started arguing again. "Don't I get a say?"

"D…"

"Let her talk, Marcel." Elena said firmly, focussing her attention on Davina. "What do you want, Davina?"

"I need to learn to control my magic." Davina decided, raising her chin as if daring Marcel to argue with her. "I need to." She repeated, turning from Marcel to Elena. "Can I trust you?"

"I don't hurt kids." Elena shrugged, letting out a soft sigh when Davina raised an expectant eyebrow. "You deserve the chance I didn't get, Davina, if I can trust you; you can trust me."

"Where the hell could she be?" Caroline huffed, flicking a strand of hair out of her face.

"She could have just left the city." Klaus offered, shrugging when the two blondes turned to face him. "Her emotions are off, she might've just decided that she didn't want to be here anymore."

"She wouldn't leave." Curiously, Rebekah was the fastest to argue with Klaus. "They're sick, Nik, she came here for answers, and…"

"And what, Rebekah?"

"She and Elijah seem to feel better when they're around each other." Rebekah sighed, shaking her head slightly. "She wouldn't go without finding out why, emotions be damned."

"They feel better when they're together?" Caroline asked curiously, tilting her head at Rebekah. "They told you that?"

Rebekah sighed again. "Not in so many words, but Elena had a few…attacks when we were in Willoughby; when Elijah got to her, she recovered quite quickly. If you're watching closely enough, you can see their physical symptoms fade away with their proximity. It's quite interesting really, I've never seen anything like it."

"Okay," Caroline huffed, holding her hand out slightly placatingly, "I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, because you two don't seem to have clocked it, that sounds like something out of a cheesy romance novel." She rolled her eyes when both of the Originals turned to face her, their eyebrows furrowed. "You know, when two people are fated to be together, and they can't be without each other without feeling physical pain?"

The Originals exchanged amused glances before they both scoffed. "That's crazy." Klaus laughed, shaking his head. "Absolutely bonkers."

"It's a cliché for a reason." Caroline snarked, pulling her phone out of her back pocket as it started to ring. "Hey, Bon, what's up?"

"Something's wrong with Elijah." Bonnie blurted, the sound of retching hitting the ears of all of the vampires at the same time. "I don't know what to do, Care."

"We'll be right there." Caroline reassured her, hanging up the phone and racing after the two siblings who'd already disappeared.

"Elijah!" Rebekah cried, darting to her brother's side, Bonnie barely having time to move out of the way of the blonde vampire. "Nik, he needs blood!"

"He just started coughing up blood!" Hayley fretted from the other side of Elijah. "We didn't know what to do!"

"Just breathe, Elijah, it's okay." Rebekah soothed, helping Elijah sit up and helping Klaus feed the blood bag to him gently. "We've got you."

Elijah guzzled what blood he could around his coughs, collapsing against Rebekah with a shuddering frame.

"Bekah." Elijah breathed, loath at the weakness he was showing, but unable to do anything about it.

"I'm here, Lijah." Rebekah murmured, her hand absently running through Elijah's hair.

"Did you find her?" He rasped, oblivious to the looks shared between his siblings and Caroline over the top of his head. "Elena? Is she here?"

"We couldn't find her, Elijah, I'm sorry."

"I…I need her here, Bekah." Elijah panted, clinging to Rebekah's arm. "I-" Elijah broke off, spluttering again as he hacked up some of the blood he'd managed to drink.

"Nik, what do we do?" Rebekah turned to her brother, only fretting more when she saw the panic she felt mirrored in his features.

"Can you help him?" Surprising everyone in the room, Klaus turned to Bonnie, raising an eyebrow at her when she hesitated. "Bonnie?"

"I thought you said magic was banned." Bonnie blurted, trying her best to ignore the shock of Klaus actually using her name.

"To hell with Marcel's rules." Klaus hissed. "Can you help him?"

"I need to channel both of you." Bonnie nodded, rushing to the group of Originals; laying a hand on Elijah's back and holding out her other arm for Klaus and Rebekah, both of whom grabbed her without a second thought.

Just as Bonnie went to start muttering a spell, the front door flew open, a blur of motion moving Bonnie away from Elijah and removing Hayley from Elijah's side that was unoccupied by the siblings. Bonnie and Hayley instinctively moved to attack whatever presence had moved them before they registered Elena taking Elijah from Rebekah's arms. Rebekah released her brother easily, a look of understanding passing between her and Elena.

"I got you." Elena murmured, one arm encircling Elijah as the other ran through his tousled hair.

"Elena?" Elijah gasped, leaning into the brunette as his spluttering turned into heavy wheezing as he took in as much air as he could.

"I'd be a bit worried if you still thought I was Katherine." Elena quipped, smiling when she heard Elijah scoff slightly.

"I never have." He whispered, closing his eyes in relief at being able to breathe again as he leant against Elena.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" Rebekah muttered, only taking her eyes from Elijah when she was satisfied that any danger seemed to have passed.

"Finding answers." Elena shrugged.

"Is that what just dragged us around the room?" Bonnie asked, raising a pointed eyebrow as she folded her arms over her chest and looked at Elena.

Elena laughed slightly. "That's the one. You guys can come in." She called, raising her voice in the direction of the door.

"Marcellus." Klaus gasped, barely registering Davina stood behind him. "You brought him here?" He snapped, turning on Elena.

"Play nice." Elena warned, absently helping Elijah sit up more as she glared at Klaus. "You don't want to pick a fight right now."

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" Klaus bellowed, advancing on Elena with eyes gleaming. "You need to learn your place." He snarled, flashing fangs and yellow eyes at Elena, who only sighed, rolling her eyes.

Before Klaus could launch himself at Elena, he found himself collapsing to the floor with a pained cry as the bones in his legs snapped.

"It's not me." Bonnie said quickly when Rebekah turned to her, eyes ablaze.

"D doesn't like it when people try to hurt her friends." Marcel said softly, reminding the others in the room of the young girl's presence.

"I warned you to play nice." Elena tutted, smirking at Klaus when he glared at her.

Chapter Text

"Enough, Niklaus." Elijah said firmly, accepting help up from Elena and Rebekah. "Now is not the time, we've clearly missed something of importance. Elena," he smiled as he turned to look at the brunette, "please, introduce us to your new friend."

Elena smiled back at him, linking her arm with his and leaning against his shoulder, easily disguising the fact that she was holding him up, and gently tugging him over to Marcel and Davina.

"Elijah," Elena sing-songed, "you already know Marcel; this is Davina."

"Hello." Davina tilted her head at Elijah as she came to stand beside Marcel. "You're the one they call honourable."

"I suppose I am." Elijah quirked his lips at her softly. "You appear to know more about me than I do about you."

"Doesn't that come with the territory of being an Original?" Davina retorted softly, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"You could say that." He acknowledged, turning his attention to Marcel. "Marcellus, it's been a long time."

"Yeah, after you all left me for dead, I don't think any amount of time is long enough." Marcel bit out, folding his arms across his chest as the tension rolled from his body.

"Okay!" Caroline chirped, clapping her hands as she interrupted the rebuilding tension. "I think Elijah needs to go and recuperate for a minute, at the very least get some blood in him, and I think everyone just needs to take a moment to calm down."

"Caroline's right." Elena said firmly, smiling all too brightly for the bite in her tone. "Elijah?" She turned to the Original on her arm, flashing him a sunny grin. "Shall we?"

"Of course." Elijah smiled back at her before turning back to Davina and Marcel. "I apologise, may we discuss shortly?"

Davina nodded, placing a hand on Marcel's arm to calm him down. "Absolutely, take as long as you need."

Elena inclined her head slightly at her, raising an eyebrow slightly as she turned to discreetly lead Elijah away.

"Not yet." She breathed to the Original when she felt his weight nearly collapse on her completely just before they rounded the corner out of the room.

Elena deliberately made a route through the kitchen, leaving the Original leaning heavily on the island in the centre of the room for a moment as she grabbed a handful of blood bags. She returned to his side quickly, whisking the pair of them away to Elijah's study upstairs.

Elijah collapsed into his chair, breathing heavily as Elena tore open the first of the blood bags, holding it out to him to drink.

Elijah shook his head, causing a growl of impatience to roll from Elena's throat. "Drink the damn blood, Elijah." She hissed, shoving the bag at him angrily.

"I can't keep it down." Elijah denied, gently pushing Elena's hand away. "There's no point in wasting it."

Narrowing her eyes at the much older vampire, she perched on the corner of his desk, sipping leisurely at the blood in her hand. "You still haven't kept any blood down at all?"

Elijah shook his head, confirming Elena's words. "If anything, it's minimal."

"Well, that just won't do, will it?" Elena sighed, tossing away the now empty bag in her hand. "You need to feed, Elijah." She said, opening another bag for herself and beginning to sip from it again. "Do you feel any hunger?" She asked curiously, tilting her head at him when she noticed he didn't react to the scent of blood at all.

Elijah sighed before shaking his head softly, reluctant to admit such a thing, but bound to the truth by his words to Elena. "It appears you do."

Elena shrugged. "Let's just say I didn't spend so long with Davina and Marcel completely consensually."

"They hurt you?" Elijah probed, the veins around his eyes beginning to darken before fading, not that Elena noticed as she tossed another empty bag away.

"Davina put me down with some magic; the sickness and being kept away from a blood supply are to thank for my current hunger." She flipped her hair over her shoulder, tilting her head at Elijah curiously. "It seems to suggest that we're suffering different afflictions if you no longer hunger for blood."

"Perhaps." Elijah exhaled, rubbing his brow tiredly as Elena picked up a letter opener from his desk, twirling it between her fingers. "Would that not be too much of a coincidence?" He countered. "We both happen to be sick, but affected by different maladies."

Elena quirked her eyebrows slightly, accepting his point. "I don't think much about this really makes sense, Elijah."

Elijah let out a breathy laugh, shaking his head slightly. "That, I think I can agree with wholeheartedly."

The two lapsed into silence, save the sounds of Elijah's still unsteady breathing and the sound of metal on skin as Elena twirled the letter opener in her hand. The pair remained locked in their thoughts until a soft gasp cut through the silence as Elena slipped, cutting the palm of her hand slightly.

This time, she didn't miss the darkening of the veins around Elijah's eyes as the smell of her blood hit his nose. As quickly as they'd appeared, they'd disappeared, Elijah's eyes wide as he realised Elena had noticed his reaction.

"Well, that's interesting." Elena quipped, staring at him curiously as the wound on her hand healed.

"It's nothing." Elijah denied, shaking his head.

"Looks a lot like hunger to me." Elena scoffed.

"Don't antagonise me, Elena." Elijah warned, his voice tight.

"Why not, Elijah? What are you gonna do?"

"Elena…" He bit out, grinding his teeth together.

"You could barely make it up the stairs, let alone hurt me." She scoffed. "Some big bad vampire you are. How's anyone in this house supposed to rely on you to protect them when you can't even look after yourself?"

"Enough!" Elijah bellowed, slamming Elena against the wall as the veins under his eyes writhed. "I told you not to push me!" He growled, forcing his vampire visage away as he took a few deep breaths.

"Do you want to bite me, Elijah?" Elena smirked, tilting her head and opening up access to her neck, grinning when Elijah's gaze automatically moved to the artery in her throat.

"Elena, stop." His voice was strained, and his tongue darted out to lick his lips in a quick movement, one of his hands moving of it's own accord and brushing Elena's hair away from her neck.

"Are you tempted, Elijah?" She breathed, bringing a hand up to the back of his head and gently tugging his face down towards her neck. "Go ahead, it's okay."

Elijah let his head fall to the wall beside her neck, his lips resting on the skin there. "This isn't right." He breathed, his fangs lightly scraping the skin of her neck as he spoke.

"Does it matter?"

Elena let out a soft gasp as Elijah's fangs pierced her neck, her eyes fluttering shut at the sensation of him feeding from her. One of his hands found it's way into her hair, the other arm wrapping around her waist as he pulled her body closer. Elena's arms wrapped around his neck, securely anchoring the Original to her lest he change his mind.

She cautiously walked them backward until Elijah's knees hit his seat, shoving him down into his chair and following behind him to straddle his lap. Elijah involuntarily let out a soft moan, continuing to drink from Elena, who's eyes closed again in euphoria as he drank, unfamiliar with the sensations that were flooding her system.

Elijah pulled his fangs from Elena's neck after a few minutes, cleaning the small amount of blood from Elena's neck and licking his lips.

"Elena, I-"

"Shut up." Elena rolled her eyes, letting her forehead fall onto Elijah's shoulder with a soft thud. "Just, shut up."

Elena drained two more bags of blood before the two of them had cleaned up and returned downstairs.

Klaus had taken a seat, although, from the look on his face and the way Caroline and Rebekah stood in front of him, it seemed more like he'd been forced into the chair. Bonnie and Davina occupied opposite ends of the sofa, and Marcel and Hayley stood off to the sides.

"You look better." Rebekah breathed, smiling at her brother happily. "I'm glad."

"As am I, sister." Elijah moved smoothly over to his armchair, taking a seat as Elena perched on the arm of the chair, ignoring the daggers she could feel coming from Hayley. "It appears we all have much to discuss."

"We've been getting to know each other a little." Caroline said, a pointed glare heading in Klaus's direction. "Some of us seem to play nicer than others."

Klaus glared back at the blonde, although it seemed to turn into more of a pout as her glare intensified.

"Your acquaintances are very interesting." Davina piped up, looking at Elena. "You really weren't overselling anything."

Elena laughed. "Not at all. I assume you've been talking to Bonnie."

The two witches exchanged glances briefly before Davina looked back at Elena. "We had a chance to talk without ears listening in."

Elena nodded, satisfied that Davina had managed to have a calm introduction to the person who could help her most.

"Elena," Elijah prompted softly, "could I perhaps trouble you for an explanation?"

"How have we never heard of this Harvest?" Rebekah breathed, her face a mask of shock. "They've been out there killing kids for centuries and we've never even heard about it?"

"Witches don't get involved in vampire business," Marcel sighed, "so vampires don't tend to get involved in witch's business."

"They can't get away with this." Caroline spoke up, her voice hard and her eyes glistening with tears. "They just can't."

"They won't." Elena stressed quickly, meeting the blonde's eyes when she turned to look at her in shock. "People shouldn't hurt kids, Caroline, and they sure as hell don't get away with it when they do."

"I thought your emotions were off." Hayley said pointedly, narrowing her eyes at Elena.

"They are." Elena turned her increasingly familiar fake smile in Hayley's direction. "Luckily for you, I still have some morals."

"Are you serious right now?" Hayley snapped, glaring at Elena, who only smirked back, more than happy to take on the opportunity to put the wolf in her place.

A firm hand on her wrist had her relaxing her stance and settling back on the arm of the chair with a roll of her eyes and a toss of her hair. Elijah quirked an eyebrow at the brunette vampire when she turned to face him, releasing her wrist when he was satisfied with the measured gaze he received in return.

"Elena is right." Elijah continued as though nothing had happened. "The witches cannot be allowed to get away with slaughter; they are your people, Davina," he turned to the young girl, "we will not act without your consent."

Davina nodded slowly, surprised at the decision being placed on her shoulders. She let out a soft sigh after a moment, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. "I have some things I need to consider first."

Elijah inclined his head in a short gesture. "Of course, take as long as you need."

Davina nodded again, turning to Elena. "You didn't tell us Elijah was also sick."

Elena raised an eyebrow at her. "Would you have given up such information about Marcel?"

Davina considered her words for a moment with narrowed eyes and pursed lips before deflating in recognition of Elena's point. "I suppose not. Have you found anything we can use?" She asked, turning her attention to Bonnie and the grimoire on the coffee table.

Bonnie sighed. "There's a few diagnostic spells, but I don't know how well they'll work on vampires, aside from that there's nothing."

"Would you mind if I borrowed the grimoire for the night? I might be able to find something you missed."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible." Elijah cut in swiftly, straightening his suit jacket when Davina looked in his direction. "None of us trust each other fully, yet, it would be foolish to allow a witch as powerful as yourself access to such a book when we're still on rocky footing."

"I understand." Davina smiled, stopping Marcel from snapping at the Original.

"I would be willing to part with a few pages." Elijah shrugged, smothering a smile at the way Davina's eyes lit up. "I'm sure Miss Bennett can help you select a few pages of interest," Bonnie nodded, smiling at the younger witch, "with that settled, it is rather late, I believe we should all retire for the night."

Just short of an hour later, Davina and Marcel, and Bonnie and Caroline had all left in their respective pairs. Klaus had slunk off to his room, furious with the events of the night, and Hayley had disappeared likewise, sulking after another round of sniping had begun between the two brunettes. Rebekah had hovered for a while, still slightly put out by just how ill Elijah had become that night; she'd only left when she was completely satisfied he wasn't going to drop dead on her.

That left Elena and Elijah alone in the living room, Elijah still sat in his armchair, reading yet another grimoire, while Elena was sprawled on the couch, humming to herself over the sound of the fire crackling.

"Elena," Elijah broached eventually, "I would like to apologise for earlier," he ignored Elena's groan, "my actions were…"

"Sexy, fun, carefree…" Elena drawled, staring at the ceiling.

"Incorrigible." Elijah finished, ignoring Elena's suggestions. "I never should have behaved in such a way."

"Why not?" Elena exclaimed, propping herself up on her elbows so she could look at Elijah. "You wanted to, you needed to, and I wanted you to. Why is that so wrong?"

"You're not yourself at the moment." Elijah said softly, looking away from Elena's penetrating gaze.

"You've already covered that one, several times." Elena snarked, rolling her eyes. "Try again."

Elijah let out a soft sigh, closing his book and setting it to the side. "None of this is a game to me, Elena."

"I never said it was." She retorted.

"Your actions speak differently." Elijah denied, shaking his head slightly. "Your emotions are off, everything is a game to you."

"You sound like you talk from experience." Elena raised an eyebrow at Elijah. "Should I be worried you're playing games, Elijah?"

Elijah scoffed, shaking his head. "You think so low of me?"

"You started it." Elena rolled her eyes.

"Something is happening beyond our scope of control, Elena, I can feel something thrumming in the back of my mind, like something is pushing our actions." Elijah took a deep breath, letting it out in one slow exhale. "I don't know why you can't feel it and I can, but I cannot act as freely as you, Elena, it's not in my nature."

"You should try it sometime." Elena bit, rolling her eyes and leaving the room in a blur, rubbing her head in irritation as her headache returned.

Chapter Text

Elena had barely managed to sleep for two hours when she found herself standing by the side of the pool. The sun would be rising in just over an hour, and the occupants of the house didn’t tend to follow far behind; she wanted to enjoy the last of her time by herself before everyone else awoke.

She slipped into the pool with almost no sound, easily finding a rhythm with her laps along the length. Quickly, she found herself losing track of how many laps she’d done, allowing the easy movements to lull the thoughts in her brain to sleep.

Eventually, she became aware of another presence by the pool, turning around, she was surprised to see Elijah sat on the poolside. His suit jacket was laid over the back of one of the chairs and his socks and shoes sat beside it. He’d rolled up the bottoms of his slacks and his feet dangled into the cool water.

“Never thought I’d see the day,” Elena scoffed, “Elijah Mikaelson, letting loose, if you can call this that.”

“You seem to find great comfort out here, I thought I would see if I can find something similar.” Elijah quirked his lips at Elena softly, tilting his head as he watched her tread water. “Everyone will be waking soon.”

“Is it that late already?” Elena asked, more to herself than anything else, glancing at the lightening sky for a moment before turning back to Elijah. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better than I have for a few days.” Elijah admitted, looking down at his feet. “I must confess, when I told you I suspected Marcellus had a witch in the wings, I didn’t expect you to find her so soon.”

Elena let out a soft laugh. “It wasn’t intentional, just dumb luck.”

“I suppose it was also dumb luck that stopped Marcellus from killing you on sight.” Elijah quipped, raising a pointed eyebrow in Elena’s direction. “What you did was reckless, Elena, you could have been killed.”

“Well, I wasn’t, was I?” Elena bit back, irritated with the direction their conversation was headed. “I told you, Elijah, you don’t control me.”

“You misunderstand me, Elena.” Elijah’s voice was soft, barely carrying to Elena on the soft breeze. “I am not trying, or wanting, to control your actions.”

“Then what are you trying to do, Elijah?” She hissed back, moving through the water in a swift flurry of motion until she stood in front of Elijah; his position on the edge of the pool seeing him towering over her. “I’m partial to playing games, but I’m tired of this one, I want you to be straight with me.”

“I’m always honest with you, Elena.”

“Then answer me honestly,” she breathed, leaning up to grab the front of Elijah’s shirt and pull him slightly closer to her, “you compelled me away in Willoughby.”

Elijah’s eyes flashed in surprise at Elena’s words, not expecting whatever she was about to ask, but he raised an eyebrow, signalling she should continue.

“You said you couldn’t stand to be near me while I’m like this,” she put a finger over his lips when he went to speak, cutting off any words he was about to form, “I don’t want an apology, I want to know why you changed your mind.”

Her finger lingered on his lips for a moment longer, before slowly trailing away.

“I couldn’t leave you there.” Elijah murmured after a moment, looking down at where Elena’s hand clutched at his shirt, finding himself not caring that she was getting water all over his clothes. “You called out for me; when I rounded the corner and caught you…” He trailed off, shaking his head slightly. “I couldn’t leave you there. I compelled you because I was being selfish, I couldn’t stand to see what my family had turned you into, and you make me better too, Elena, not just where our illness is involved.”

Elena found herself even more confused by his words, she felt like she only had more questions than she did answers. After a few moments of silence, Elijah looked up from where his gaze had fallen, waiting for Elena to say something.

Caught off-guard by Elijah’s answer, all Elena could think to do was to break the tense atmosphere that had unwanted feelings stirring. She dragged Elijah into the pool, racing away from him in the split second she had before he regained any awareness of what had just happened, laughing when he darted towards her.

Elena only managed to evade Elijah for a few short moments before he managed to grab ahold of her wrist, pulling her around to face him. His faster reflexes were the only thing that kept the pair of them on their feet in the violently sloshing water as she fell into Elijah.

“You ask for honesty, but you run from it when it’s given.” Elijah shook his head, water dripping from his hair with the movement and his chest heaving for breath. “I believe it’s my turn to ask a question.”

Elena frowned, surprised. “If you want to ask, go ahead.”

“You kept my sickness from Niklaus, and you didn’t reveal it to Marcellus or Davina.”

“I don’t hear a question.” Elena whispered, trying to control her breathing as Elijah’s hand that wasn’t holding her wrist moved to her waist.

“Your emotions are off; why are you protecting me?” Elijah asked eventually, keeping hold of the brunette so she couldn’t get the upper hand on him again.

“You’re protecting me…” Elena breathed, closing her eyes to calm her thoughts. “I thought it made sense for it to go both ways.”

“Do you remember what I told you when you were human?” Elijah probed. “About your heartbeat?” He said softly, leaning down to whisper in Elena’s ear. “Your heart may beat more slowly now, but it still jumps when you’re lying to me.”

Elena swallowed thickly, her body shivering as Elijah’s breath brushed her ear. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Do you know what I think, Elena?”

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.” Elena murmured.

“I don’t think your switch is as firmly off as you want everyone to think it is.” Elijah pulled away slightly, looking Elena in the eyes. “I think a part of you still cares, Elena.”

“My switch is off.” Elena denied, trying her hardest to smother the emotions that Elijah was stirring up in her.

“If you can tell me you don’t care about anything without your heartbeat betraying you, I’ll believe you.”

“Elijah…” Elena breathed, her tongue darting out to wet her lips as she found Elijah’s lips a hairsbreadth away from hers.

“The Elena I care about is still in there,” Elijah murmured, his lips brushing hers slightly as he spoke, as close as they were, “I can see you.”

“Well, isn’t this cosy.” Klaus broke the electric atmosphere that was bubbling between the pair and causing Elena to pull away like she’d been burned. He narrowed his eyes at the pair stood in the centre of the pool, having not missed the fact that they’d been about to kiss before he’d shown up. “Get yourselves sorted out, we need a plan.”

Elena avoided eye contact with both of the Originals, disappearing inside the house; grabbing Elijah’s suit jacket on the way to cover the bikini that Caroline had bought round in the bag of clothes she’d dropped off.

She shut her door firmly behind her, leaning against it and breathing heavily. Elijah was affecting her more than she’d anticipated he’d be able to, and she couldn’t understand why. He wasn’t supposed to be getting to her this much, but she seemed powerless to do anything about it, somehow Elijah was under her skin, and she wasn’t sure if she could shake him.

When Elena returned to the lounge, it felt like several hours had passed, and yet she felt like she hadn’t had nearly long enough to find some composure. She left her hair half-wet, flouncing into the living room in a red, flowery dress. Deliberately, she sat far from where she knew Elijah would sit. Thankfully, that also put her away from Hayley, who regarded her with a look akin to one Elena would expect if she’d just bit into a lemon.

“Yes, Hayley?” Elena turned her sunny smile on the wolf, her eyes narrow and measured.

Hayley let out a breathy scoff, shaking her head. “You don’t have a clue what you do to people, do you?”

Elena raised an eyebrow at her, laughing a second later. “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve got feelings for Elijah. That’s hilarious, you get knocked up with Klaus’s baby, and then immediately turn your attention to the other brother.”

“You’re hardly one to talk about playing brothers against each other.” Hayley snapped, glaring at Elena.

The fake smile fell from Elena’s face, her features hardening instantly. “Let’s be perfectly clear, Hayley, the only reason I haven’t killed you is because of the child you carry. If you really want to test the limits of the morals I hold without my emotions then carry on, otherwise, you might want to think twice before you start something you can’t finish.” Her voice was a harsh hiss by the time she finished talking, and Hayley’s eyes had narrowed more so, if that was even possible.

“I trust you two are playing nice.” Rebekah said pointedly as she entered the room, satisfied when Elena resumed an unbothered lounge on the couch.

“I always play nice.” Elena grinned at the blonde, ignoring Hayley’s scoff as the two men entered the room.

Elijah had changed clothes and was donning a fresh suit jacket, to the untrained eye he looked as composed as ever, but Elena could see a hint of his frazzled nature under his façade. Klaus, on the other hand, did nothing to hide the irritation on his face and the tense set of his jaw. The two had clearly had some sort of argument, Elena could only assume that it was about what Klaus had witnessed in the pool, she couldn’t imagine that he would be happy with it in the slightest.

Elijah took his usual seat, assessing the room swiftly as he moved; the tension between Elena and Hayley was nothing new, but it seemed to be nearing boiling point.

“I think it’s time we discuss why you thought it was a good idea to bring Marcel to this house, not to mention the extremely powerful witch that seems to harbour an immense loyalty to him.” Klaus was on the offensive immediately, glaring at Elena.

“Did you really get up at the crack of dawn just to argue with me?” Elena quipped, rolling her eyes as Rebekah snorted.

“As much as I enjoy you talking back to Nik,” Rebekah grinned at her brother, “I do happen to agree with him in this instance, with the conditions of Elijah and Hayley, you shouldn’t’ve brought them here.”

Elena pursed her lips, letting out a long sigh. “I didn’t bring them here.”

“Uhm, I think you kinda did.” Hayley snarked, holding Elena’s glare evenly.

“And I think you’re too stupid for your own good,” Elena grinned, “guess we all have our opinions.”

“Enough.” Surprisingly, it was Klaus who intervened before Elijah could, his eyes flashing yellow as he glared at Elena. “What, exactly, happened with Marcellus and Davina?”

Elena sighed again, crossing her arms over her chests, her lips pursing again as she thought, irritation coursing through her. “We talked, for a long time, mostly just Davina and I. Marcel was more...apprehensive than Davina, we weren’t discussing for very long before…” She trailed off, a muscle in her jaw twitching.

“Before what?” Klaus bit out, Rebekah’s hand on his arm the only thing stopping him from physically attacking Elena.

“I passed out.” Elena grit, reluctantly, taking a breath before rolling her eyes and flipping her hair over her shoulder, grinning at the hybrid. “Whatever the hell was affecting Elijah, got me too. Davina got into my memories to find out where I was staying and they brought me back here, I’d only just woken up when I came in.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Elijah asked, frowning at Elena, concern lightly showing on his features.

“I didn’t realise I was living with the Salvatores.” Elena quipped, holding Elijah’s gaze steadily, despite the flash of hurt she could see in his eyes. “If you’ll all excuse me, I’m really not interesting in scheming away today.”

She stood from the couch fluidly, smoothing her dress down and passing a sunny smile at the occupants of the room briefly before she flounced away.

“Where are you going?” Rebekah asked, the first to dare to respond.

“I need a bite to eat.” Elena shrugged, pulling on a leather jacket. “Don’t worry, Elijah, I remember your little rules.”

“Where have you been?” Elijah pounced on Elena as soon as she stepped through the threshold later that evening, it might’ve been early in the morning, she wasn’t really sure.

“Out.” She said shortly, rolling her eyes as she hung her jacket up. “Like I said.”

“You’ve been gone for nearly twenty-four hours, Elena!”

“I was hungry.” Elena scoffed, walking past Elijah towards the stairs; huffing when he grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“Did you not consider that I might have been worried about you?” He asked, his voice suddenly soft as he gently turned over her hand in his, encasing it in his own hands.

Elena pretended to think for a moment before shrugging and tugging her hand from his. “Nope, can’t say I thought about you at all.” She spun away from him, a lithe movement on the ball of her heel that had her hair flicking behind her.

“Oh!” Quickly, she turned back to him, having only made it up a few stairs. “I almost forgot, I was meaning to say thank you.”

“For what?” Elijah muttered, slipping his hands into the pockets of his slacks as he looked up at her, his features resigned.

“You were right, my switch was slipping, but the problem’s been rectified now, so, thank you, for pointing that out.” She clarified when he didn’t react, tilting her head at him curiously when he said nothing, only stared back at her. After a moment, she shrugged and turned back, continuing up the stairs. “Oh, and don’t worry, I didn’t kill anyone!”

Chapter Text

Elena tilted her head at her reflection, straightening the lapels of her black denim jacket as she admired her reflection, ignoring the sound of her bedroom door opening behind her.

"How very…Katherine of you." Rebekah sneered, leaning against Elena's doorway with her arms folded across her chest.

"Don't compare me to her." Elena said shortly, meeting Rebekah's eyes in the mirror. "I am nothing like Katherine."

"Could've fooled me." The blonde scoffed with a soft roll of her eyes. "Elijah said you finally rolled in at three this morning."

"Was that the time?" Elena murmured, leaning closer to the mirror as she touched up her red lipstick. "Can't say I'm sure."

Rebekah sighed, pursing her lips at the girl in front of her. "You can't do this, Elena, not after how bad he got. You two need to be around each other, that much is clear even if we can't figure anything else out."

Elena didn't reply for a moment, smacking her lips together and pouting slightly at her reflection in the mirror to check her lipstick, a soft nod signalling her approval. "I thought I told you both I wouldn't be taking orders when we landed here."

"It's bloody common sense, Elena!" Rebekah hissed, shaking her head in disbelief. "Whatever is affecting you both lessens when you're together, you need to stay close to each other!"

"I don't want to." Elena snapped, finally turning to look at the blonde lounging against the doorframe like she owned the place. Technically, she probably did, at the least, she definitely had more of a claim to it than Elena, but that didn't make it any less annoying.

"Since when?" Rebekah scoffed, incredulous. "Two days ago, you were all for clinging to him just for fun!"

The brunette shrugged, flipping her curled hair over her shoulder. "I got bored."

"That's bull."

"I don't really care what you think." Elena shrugged; her tone nonchalant as it carried the implication that her statement was obvious. "I had fun in New York, but that doesn't make us best friends or anything." She rolled her eyes, turning back to her mirror. Quickly, she let out a soft noise of approval and stood from her seat, brushing past Rebekah.

"Where are you going?" Rebekah called after her, huffing.

"Out!" Elena rolled her eyes. "I thought that was obvious."

Rebekah grabbed Elena's upper arm, swiftly pulling her to a stop. "I expect a serious answer, Elena."

Elena smiled at the blonde in a mocking way. "Fine, I'm going to see Davina and Marcel." She tugged lightly on Rebekah's grasp, "Can I go now?"

"Elijah cares about you; if it wasn't for this weird link between the two of you, I would tear your heart out for hurting him. Tread carefully, Gilbert." She released Elena's arm, glaring at the brunette's back as she flounced away.

"Elena!" Davina grinned as she opened the door to her attic room. "Come on in, how're you feeling?"

"Better, thank you both for getting me to Elijah." Elena smiled at Marcel and Davina both in turn.

Marcel raised an eyebrow at her. "What's going on with you and Elijah? Your emotions are off, so I assume you're not together?" The question fell from his lips so easily that Elena assumed it had been simmering for a while.

Elena laughed, shaking her head. "Definitely not. Whatever is affecting us, it's…like it's tempered when we're together, something about being in proximity to each other, it's kind of like a temporary cure." She perched on the edge of Davina's bed with a sigh.

"Kinda like soulmates." Davina mused, covering her mouth with her hand when Elena glared at her. "Sorry, that kinda slipped out."

"Kinda true though." Marcel pointed out, tilting his head at Elena when she turned narrowed eyes at him. "It'd be easy to assume you're linked to each other, but a link through your life forces wouldn't make you feel better around each other."

Elena pursed her lips, turning to Davina in search of more favourable information. "Have you found anything?"

"Bonnie was right, the spells I brought here from the grimoire were diagnostic, meaning they aren't intended for use on vampires."

"I sense a but…"

"But…" Davina smiled at Elena, letting out a soft laugh, "I might be able to modify one of the spells to get it to take on you and Elijah."

"Might?" Elena asked, quirking a pointed eyebrow at the young girl in front of her. "I've heard more promising words."

"It requires a lot of power to modify a spell for something it was never intended for, more so when the spell needs to be performed on an Original, but," she said quickly when Elena look ready to cut in, "with the power I have from the Harvest, and the power Bonnie holds as a Bennett, we should have enough between us to make it work, not to mention we'll be using doppelganger blood, and we have Originals we can channel."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"We can find out what's wrong with you, Elena." Davina nodded, grinning at her.

Elena smiled too, closing her eyes for a moment as she let out a soft sigh. "As long as it gets me away from Elijah, I'm happy."

Marcel frowned at her. "Is this why you were at the Abattoir last night? Hiding from Elijah?"

"I wasn't hiding from him." Elena corrected with a soft roll of her eyes. "I was having fun."

"Coulda fooled me." Marcel scoffed, leaning on the table behind him.

Elena rolled her eyes again, turning back to Davina. "Have you and Bonnie got everything you need?"

"Nearly, Bonnie's out gathering one more thing."

"So, we can do this tonight?" Elena asked, toying with her hair absently.

Davina thought for a moment before quirking her lips slightly and nodding. "As long as you and Elijah are both well enough, I don't see why not."

"Thanks, D, I'll leave you and Bonnie to get everything ready." Elena smiled at the brunette, standing fluidly from the bed and leaving the room. She'd only made it down the stairs before Marcel called out to her, appearing behind her in a flash.

"I don't really know what situation you have going on with Elijah, hell, with all the Originals, but the Abattoir's doors are always open for you." He offered, his vampire speed slowing to a stroll as he approached her.

Elena smiled at the older vampire, letting out a breathy huff of laughter. "Marcel, last night was a lot of fun, but my switch is firmly off, and as soon as Davina and Bonnie cure this illness, I'm getting the hell out of New Orleans."

Marcel smiled at Elena, brushing a piece of hair out of her face with a shake of his head. "I was offering you a place to get away from everything, Elena, not a relationship. You forget, I have history with the Mikaelson's, I know how much you can need to get away."

She raised an eyebrow at him, her eyes flitting to where his hand touched her face after a moment.

"It's interesting though."

"What is?"

"You seemed," he paused, searching for the right word, "broken when you came to the Abattoir last night, for a moment I thought you might've turned it back on."

"That's not happening." Elena scoffed, shaking her head and turning sharply to walk away from him, her hair flicking behind her.

"I've known my fair share of emotionless vampires, Elena," Marcel called after her, giving her pause for a moment as she tilted her head slightly in a gesture for him to continue talking, "the ones who're most adamant their switch is off, are always the ones who are struggling to keep it that way."

Elena was sulking.

As much as a vampire with no emotions could sulk that is.

"Did someone piss in your blood?" Klaus scoffed, pouring himself a glass of whiskey from the trolley in the lounge, turning to look at the doppelganger sprawled out on Elijah's armchair. "I'd look to Rebekah first, she's rather displeased with how much you've upset our darling brother. Then again, Hayley doesn't seem to be your number one fan either…"

"What's your point?" Elena muttered, rolling her eyes at the hybrid's dramatics.

"You're living in a house with the most powerful people in the world, and the mother of my child, and you're alienating the only person who likes or cares about you." Klaus shrugged, taking a sip from the drink in his hand. "Probably not your wisest decision, although, I suppose that's not really saying a lot."

"Funny."

"I'm not trying to be." Klaus rolled his eyes, knocking back the rest of the drink in his hand. "I'm only going to say this once, Elena, I've never seen Elijah look at someone the way he was looking at you in that pool. If you're going to break his heart, leave now, before Rebekah or I take matters into our own hands."

"Not like you to talk first and act later." Elena pointed out, ignoring the thoughts his words gave rise to, instead spinning her legs around to sit upright on the chair and look at Klaus. "What gives?"

"You're inexplicably linked to Elijah, and Caroline may have suggested something that seems to make rather a lot of sense." Klaus wrinkled his nose in a gesture of disgust. "This is the only second chance you'll get from me, love, I'd take it if I were you."

"What did Caroline say?" Elena asked, frowning as Klaus said nothing, only walking away from her. "Klaus!" She called louder. "What did she say?" She growled to herself, throwing her head against the back of the chair when Klaus ignored her.

"Niklaus is rather fond of theatrics." Elijah pointed out, not meeting Elena's eyes when she looked around to find him leaning against the doorframe.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Elena muttered, throwing her hair over her shoulder with a sigh.

"Has Davina managed to shed any light on our situation?"

Elena shrugged, pursing her lips slightly. "I guess? She and Bonnie think they can tweak one of the spells enough to be able to 'diagnose' our problem." She grinned, using her finger to create little air quotes. "They're coming over later to perform the spell."

"Good." Elijah nodded, disappearing before Elena could say anything else, leaving her to continue sulking with her own thoughts.

Marcel was an ass.

Merely an hour later, Elena found herself finally giving in to the piercing sensation in her head and the pit in her stomach. Reluctantly, she raised her hand to knock on the door to Elijah's study, opening the door quickly after, knowing the soundproofing on the room wouldn't allow her to hear any reply.

"Elena." Elijah murmured, surprise colouring his tone as he looked up from where he was filling out some paperwork. "How can I help you?" He forced a smile, pushing away his surprise, and placing his pen on the table, leaning back into his chair.

"Proximity." Elena quipped, shutting the door behind her. "My head is killing me, and I feel about thirty seconds away from collapsing."

The smile fell from Elijah's face at her words, and he gestured to one of the seats in front of him. "Sit." He said quickly, coming around from his desk to crouch in front of Elena as she sat down. "How long have you been feeling like this?"

"Not long," Elena shrugged, tilting her head at Elijah as he pressed a cool hand to her forehead, "it's just kinda intense."

"Why do I feel like that's an understatement?" Elijah probed, raising an eyebrow at Elena.

She scoffed, inclining her head in admittance. "Maybe a little." She allowed, closing her eyes in relief as his touch chased away the pain in her head.

"You should have come up here sooner." Elijah scolded, sighing slightly as he watched some colour returning to her face. How had he not noticed her pain when he'd spoken to her downstairs? Had she not been feeling it then?

"You've been busy." Elena shrugged. "I can cope."

"You shouldn't have to." Elijah denied swiftly, meeting her gaze evenly when she opened her eyes to look at him.

"I suspect you're the only person who feels that way." Elena chuckled, looking away from him.

Elijah shook his head, despite the fact the Elena wasn't looking at him, letting out an irritated huff of breath. "People care about you, Elena. Bonnie, Caroline, Davina, they all care."

"They want to change me." Elena snapped, her eyebrows furrowed as she licked her lips, shaking her head slightly. "No one likes who I am now."

"Unless I'm missing something, Davina doesn't want to change you." Elijah pointed out softly. "Caroline and Bonnie…they don't understand." He sighed after a moment. "They just miss their friend."

"And you?" Elena turned her head back to face Elijah, his hand falling from her forehead to her cheek. "You want me to change, Elijah, admit it."

Elijah let out a low breath, a soft, cynical laugh escaping him. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you the truth." He smiled softly at Elena, the hand on her cheek falling away.

Elena caught his hand, pressing it to the area above her chest. "Teach me." She brought her other hand up to cover his with both of hers. "You always know when people are lying to you, teach me to listen like you do."

"It takes time, Elena, it's not easy." Elijah denied softly with a shake of his head. "You've made your intentions to leave New Orleans very clear."

"I'll stay." Elena blurted before she could stop herself. "Here, with you."

"You don't want that." Elijah smiled, shaking his head.

"Don't tell me what I want." Elena murmured, leaning forward to capture Elijah's lips with her own. "I'm so sick of people telling me what I want." She whispered against his lips, one of her hands releasing its grasp on his and knotting it in his hair.

Elijah fell from his crouch, kneeling in front of Elena as he kissed her back with a vigour. He pulled away after a few moments, his forehead resting on hers as her name fell from his lips in a soft whisper.

Elena's hand moved from his hair to cup his cheek, her eyes remaining closed. "Marcel said something to me today," she whispered before Elijah could talk, feeling his body stiffen at her words, "he said that, in his experience, vampires who constantly assure the people around them of their lack of emotions, are the ones who're struggling with their switch the most."

Elijah nodded slowly when she opened her eyes in search of an answer from him, not sure where she was going with this. "I would concur with Marcellus; I've often found that to be the case."

"I feel when I'm with you, Elijah." She murmured softly, squeezing the hand she still held over her heart. "I don't know why, but I do. I think I could do this, with you."

Elijah let out a soft exhale of breath, closing his eyes for a moment. "I'm not sure what you mean." He admitted, bringing his free hand to cover the one that Elena held to his face.

"I…I think I could survive the grief, if I had you with me." She breathed, holding Elijah's startled gaze evenly.

"Elena…"

Elijah was interrupted by a short knock at the door, it swinging open afterwards to reveal Rebekah. She took in the sight in front of her with a quirked eyebrow, brushing aside her surprise quickly.

"We're ready for the spell."

Chapter Text

Bonnie and Davina were hunched over a pile of candles, pages of paper and chalk, Marcel hovering protectively behind Davina. Several jars of herbs were set aside as Caroline argued with Klaus about where they were performing the spell. Klaus was adamant they were not scrawling chalk marks over his antique rug; Caroline defied him to tell her somewhere in this house that wasn't antique where they could perform the spell. Stefan, Damon and Hayley occupied the couch, watching the pair bicker with amusement.

Aside from Bonnie and Davina, who were fixated on the objects in front of them, everyone in the room turned to face the doorway when Elena and Elijah trailed in behind Rebekah.

"Elena." Caroline breathed, a smile breaking out on her face. "You look better, Elijah." She acknowledged, turning her attention away from the emotionless vampire. "It's nice to see you back on your feet."

"It's certainly preferable." Elijah agreed, sending a soft smile in the blonde's direction.

"Nice of you to tell us Elena was found okay." Damon sneered, glaring at Elijah. "We had to find out from witchy and blondie over here."

"I cannot say you're the first people who come to mind when it involves Elena." Elijah said evenly, raising an eyebrow at the dark-haired vampire. "She's made it rather clear she wants nothing to do with you or Stefan at the current time."

"She's not in her right mind." Damon denied. "As soon as we figure out what's wrong with her, she's coming back to Mystic Falls, with us."

"She's right here." Elena growled, glaring at Damon. "Elijah is right, I'm not going back to Mystic Falls with you."

"The hell you aren't!" Damon snapped, launching up from his seat on the sofa and grabbing Elena by the upper arms. "Turn it on and come home with us." He implored, staring into her eyes.

Elena shook her head, knocking Damon's hands off of her arms. "The sire bond is gone, Damon. So are any feelings I had for you or Stefan."

Damon took a step back like he'd been burned, scoffing when Elijah caught his eye, poised behind Elena, ready to intervene if need be. "So, what, you're with Elijah now? Klaus?"

Elena scoffed, wrinkling her nose at the same time as Klaus did. "Ew, no."

"Not sure I'm worth that reaction." Klaus muttered, folding his arms over his chest with a pout.

"You definitely are." Elena retorted quickly, not even looking at the hybrid. "Elijah and I are not together, but neither are we, Damon. You need to just accept that."

"We need to do the spell now." Davina interrupted, levelling a glare at Damon, daring him to argue with her. "Some of these herbs are on a time constraint, so we need to start."

With Marcel's help, the two witches had moved the furniture and rug around, creating a large, open space on the floor where Bonnie was crouched, writing runes on the wood with a piece of chalk.

"What do you need from us?" Elijah asked, tilting his head to look at what Bonnie was writing, evenly spaced out in a circle.

"Blood from both of you." Davina said firmly, holding out two small bowls for each of them to take. "Then you just need to lie in the circle side-by-side."

Elijah and Elena both nodded, taking their bowls from Davina. Elena lengthened her fangs, biting into her wrist and letting her blood dribble into the bowl, while Elijah took of his suit jacket and unbuttoned the cuffs of his sleeves. He rolled them up slightly before biting into his wrist in a similar fashion to Elena and filling the bowl about halfway.

"How will we know what's going on?" Elena asked, handing her bowl to Davina and sitting where Bonnie gestured for her to.

"Spells like this are normally pretty old-world," Bonnie explained softly as she finished writing on the floor, placing the chalk down and gently brushing the residue off her hands, "but that also means they're usually quite simple, runes generally make themselves known to diagnose the condition."

"We have no idea how complicated your affliction will be," Davina continued, mixing some herbs into the blood in front of her, "so we've added a little clause, the spell will write out a handy diagnosis for us." She shrugged, gesturing to the paper beside her.

"That's pretty neat." Elena laughed softly, lying on her back when Elijah sat beside her and taking in a deep breath.

"As long as it works." Davina smiled, letting out a soft laugh of her own. "This should work better if there's physical contact between the two of you." She murmured, raising an eyebrow at the two vampires led in front of her.

Elena took another breath, scoffing slightly as she took a firm hold on Elijah's hand. "I hope you feel as ridiculous as I do." She muttered, turning to look at the Original next to her.

He smiled back at her, squeezing her hand softly as his only reply.

"How long is this gonna take?" Damon grimaced, glaring at Caroline when she rolled her eyes at him.

"Hopefully not too long." Bonnie sighed, kneeling beside Elena while Davina knelt next to Elijah. "Rebekah, Klaus, we need you close in case we need to channel you."

The siblings shared a brief look before moving to stand beside the girls, Klaus slightly behind Bonnie and Rebekah by Davina.

"Let's do this." Davina smiled, holding her hands out over the bodies under her for Bonnie to grasp.

Elena had never been in so much pain.

Even the episodes she'd had since she and Elijah had found each other in Willoughby hadn't been this bad.

Her head was going to explode, literally going to just blow up, she was sure of it. She'd never felt so much pressure in her head, it was a thousand times worse than any aneurysm a witch could give her. If she had been able to move, she would have been writhing in agony, she probably would have even been screaming.

Lack of emotions had no bearing now, pain was still very much something she could feel, and by God was she feeling it. Somewhere she wondered if Elijah felt this much pain too; she wondered if either of them looked pained where they lay on the floor.

Every nerve in her body was ablaze. No part of her was untouched by the fire that ravaged her body like a billion needles sinking into her flesh over and over again.

Were they ever going to stop? They had to have been at it all day by now.

Elena didn't want to know what was wrong anymore, she just wanted the pain to stop. She could live with the sickness, if only the pain would go away.

Like something was answering her prayer, she felt the pain in her right hand slowly ease away, pushed at bay by a light pressure on her skin.

Elijah.

He was squeezing her hand. She wasn't really sure if it was a symptom of his own pain, or an attempt to comfort her. Whatever it was, she didn't care, because it was making the pain go away.

She squeezed back, clinging to his hand desperately, an anchor in her storm.

What felt like an eternity later, she could move again. The pain in her body receded and she could breathe, she could think.

She could throw up.

A bucket thrust under into her arms caught the contents of her stomach as she flew into a sitting position.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Caroline's worried voice reached her ears before anyone else's as she continued to vomit.

"We were expecting it." Bonnie reassured her, rubbing Elena's back gently as Rebekah took over for Davina beside Elijah. "Part of the diagnosis was aggravating their symptoms."

"You didn't think to warn anyone?" Rebekah hissed then, glaring at the darker witch over Elijah's back.

"There was no other way to perform the spell." Davina said softly. "If they did anything to suppress the symptoms, even subconsciously, it wouldn't have worked." Gently, she guided Elena's searching hand into Elijah's, both of them grasping at each other instantly, their bodies sagging in relief as the vomiting subsided.

"Did it work?" Rebekah asked, her worry for her brother waning as his body relaxed, and he looked up from the bucket in front of him, turning to Davina and Bonnie with the same question written on his face.

"It better have." Elena muttered, setting her bucket aside and collapsing against Elijah, his arms automatically catching her and holding her to him.

"I have to agree." Elijah grimaced. "That was rather unpleasant, it would be disheartening if it didn't take as intended."

Davina smiled at the pair softly, picking up a piece of paper from beside her, pen scrawled over the pages.

"There's an easy fix." She murmured eventually, everyone in the room waiting for her verdict. "I don't see anyone here being happy with it though."

"What is it?" Elena rasped, her breath coming raggedly.

"Ligatus Animarum." Davina said, fingering the paper in front of her as she looked up at the pair in front of her.

"For those of us who aren't fluent in witch?" Damon snarked, furious with the whole situation in front of him.

"Latin." Davina corrected, glaring at the vampire for a moment before turning back to Elijah and Elena. "Bound Souls." She explained softly, this time, not taking her attention away from Elena and Elijah.

"Let her talk." Stefan hissed, grabbing Damon when he went to start talking again. Damon wrenched his arm from Stefan's grasp, ignoring the looks from other people around him.

"Davina?" Elena prompted softly, her breathing evening out as she and Elijah remained in contact.

"Pretty much everyone has a soul bond," she started softly, "they're generally not recognised unless both parties are vampires, even then it can be hard to recognise. In this case, the bond has taken matters into its own hands, because Elena's emotions are off."

"Taken matters into its own hands how?" Elena bit, her body tensing.

"The sickness is meant to bring both members of the pair together, so long as they're aware of each other. The symptoms wane when you're in each other's company to try and keep you together-"

"They haven't always,"" Rebekah interrupted, "Elena's had some of her worst episodes when they've been together."

Davina nodded. "Anger, resentment, disgust…pretty much any negative emotion aimed at one of the pair by the other causes the sickness to act up. It's supposed to promote positive emotions, in the hope of getting the emotionless counterpart to turn their emotions back on."

"Some stupid spell is trying to Pavlov us into liking each other?" Elena hissed, tearing herself from Elijah's arms and shooting to her feet.

"That's not exactly-"

"That is exactly what you said!" Elena snapped, interrupting Davina, causing Marcel to step closer to the pair in a silent warning to Elena. "This is ridiculous." She scoffed, ghosting from the room before anyone could say anything else.

Elijah quickly stood to follow Elena, shrugging off the hand that Hayley put on his arm to pause him.

"You should let her go." Hayley murmured, pretty much to Elijah's back as he disappeared without sparing her a glance.

"Elena."

She shook her head, refusing to turn to look at Elijah, focusing on the soft ripples of the water in front of her.

"You were right," she scoffed, shaking her head again, "there was something else at play."

Elijah let out a soft sigh, stepping closer to Elena. "Do you really believe that's all this is?"

"You said it!" Elena cried, incredulous as she spun to face Elijah. He was still without his jacket, and his shirt was unusually ragged for him, she pushed the thoughts away with a sharp shake of her head. "You said something was wrong!"

"I meant in my mind." Elijah denied, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I could feel something…new; I didn't understand what was going on, or what to do about it."

"What to do about the fact that we're being pushed together like a pair of dolls?" Elena laughed, turning her back on Elijah.

"Is that really how you see this?" Elijah breathed, trying his hardest to keep the pain seeping from his voice. "You honestly think that we're just pawns to a spell?"

"You don't?" She retorted, growling when she felt the beginnings of a headache. "We can't even argue without this damn bond getting in the way!"

Elijah sighed again, saying nothing for a few moments before slipping off his shoes and socks, rolling up the bottoms of his slacks like he had the day before, and sitting on the edge of the pool. He slid his feet into the cool water, glad for the calming sensation.

"We always seem to find ourselves out here, don't we?" He murmured softly, looking up at Elena and holding a hand out in her direction. "Join me?"

"I'm wearing jeans." Elena denied, folding her arms over her chest as she looked down at him.

Elijah said nothing, keeping his hand extended in a clear offer, his eyebrow raised slightly as Elena pursed her lips. She huffed after a moment, slipping off her stilettos and sitting to fold up her jeans as much as she could.

Hesitantly, she slid to sit beside Elijah, dangling her feet in the water and cringing slightly as she felt the water soak through the denim of her jeans.

"What-" Elena cut off with surprise as Elijah put a finger over her parted lips.

"Just, take a moment." Elijah said softly, slowly removing his hand from Elena's lips. "Humour me." He murmured at her raised eyebrow. "Please."

She sighed, turning away from Elijah to look at her feet, kicking them softly in the water. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, the sounds of Damon and Caroline arguing fading into background noise.

"This pool, out here, I view this area as a symbol of our honesty to each other." Elijah said softly, surprising Elena when she turned to look at him and saw his feet mimicking her actions as he looked at them. "Our conversations out here, we're always honest with each other; I value that."

"You've always valued honesty." Elena shrugged, looking back at her feet when it was clear Elijah wasn't going to turn to face her. "That's nothing new."

"So have you." Elijah pointed out gently, thinking carefully about his words.

"Honesty makes the world go round." Elena quipped.

"That is does." Elijah agreed, his head bobbing slightly. "Talk to me, Elena, help me understand."

"What is there to understand, Elijah? Our actions were not our own, we've been being manipulated by some bond this whole time!"

"You didn't believe that when we were in my study."

Elena scoffed at Elijah's words, pulling her feet from the pool and attempting to storm away, Elijah's hand grabbing her wrist and pulling her down to stop her from walking away. The sudden movement catching her off guard and making her fall in the pool.

She stood in the water, brushing her soaked hair out of her face and spluttering before glaring at Elijah. "What the hell was that for?"

Elijah's mouth opened slightly, snapping shut again shortly after as he tried to decide between abject horror and regret, or amusement. The sight of Elena drenched through, her clothes clinging to her form as she glared at him, trying to come off as threatening, won out over his mortification over the accident and he let out a soft chuckle.

"My apologies, Elena, I did not intend for that to happen." He managed eventually, smothering a smile.

"Yeah, you seem real sincere." Elena bit out, hands on her hips as she glared at the man in front of her.

Elijah shrugged slightly. "Perhaps it's a cosmic evening of the score."

She narrowed her eyes at him, not at all amused. "So, you did do it on purpose." She crowed, victorious.

"I did not." Elijah denied, frowning at Elena.

"Get in the water."

"What?" Elijah scoffed, shaking his head.

"If you want to talk, I will not be the only one soaked to the bone, get in the water."

Elijah sighed, pursing his lips for a second before letting out another sigh and sliding into the water. "Are you happy now?"

"Ecstatic." Elena bit, grinning falsely at him.

"You were ready to embrace your emotions an hour ago," Elijah reminded her, approaching her slowly, "what changed, Elena?"

"I'm through being manipulated." Elena spat, torn between her instinct to move closer to Elijah and her brain telling her to run away, ending up rooted in the same spot.

"I'm not manipulating you." Elijah murmured, his brow furrowed with genuine confusion.

"My whole life is a cosmic fuckup of manipulation!" Elena said, gesturing emphatically at the sky. "Starting with my doppelganger status and ending with being here in this pool with you!"

"You don't think you've made a single decision to lead you here?" Elijah asked, thoroughly confused by what Elena meant. "Not one?"

"I'm the doppelganger, Elijah, I don't get choices."

Elijah shook his head, bringing his hand up to Elena's cheek. "You always have a choice where I'm involved, Elena, I give you my word."

She let out a low breath, looking away from Elijah's steady gaze as his other hand came up to cup her other cheek. He gently turned her face back around to look in his direction, her eyes remaining focussed on his chest.

"Elena, what I feel for you…it's not the result of a spell, or a manipulation, its real." He said softly, leaning forward to capture Elena's lips in a soft kiss.

Chapter Text

"I can't, Elijah." Elena murmured softly, breaking their kiss. "I can't let another thing dictate my life." She said, shaking her head as she stepped away from his hands. "I just can't."

"You are." Elijah argued, holding her arm to stop her from walking away. "You're letting your fear dictate your actions, Elena, don't let it, you know what's real." He plead, his eyes imploring her to see reason, desperation on his features as he watched her face fall blank again.

"I think you're the one doing that, Elijah." She said, taking her arm from his hold. "I'm not some witchy experiment, so I guess we should both get used to feeling like crap."

Elijah didn't move as she walked away, closing his eyes in defeat as he stood in the cool water of the swimming pool, a lump in his throat.

"What the hell happened to you?" Rebekah remarked, noting the water dripping from Elena's clothes.

"A pool." The brunette quipped, noting the blonde's eyes narrow in response.

"Your emotions are still off." Klaus noted, surprise colouring his tone.

"How observant of you." Elena scoffed, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"You and Elijah won't get better while your emotions are off."

"Is it state the obvious day or something?" Elena muttered, rolling her eyes at the hybrid's words. "Did I miss the announcement?"

The room burst into a flurry of movement quickly after as Klaus slammed Elena against a wall, his eyes flashing amber. Rebekah flew in front of him to stop any of the other vampires from pulling him away from her as Bonnie and Davina stood, both determined to use their magic on Klaus if they had to, despite how much the spell had drained them both.

"You will turn on your emotions, Elena." Klaus hissed, holding the brunette by her throat. "You are responsible for Elijah's sickness, so help me god, you will turn it back on."

"Klaus!" Caroline protested, glaring at Rebekah as she blocked her from getting to him. "Stop it!"

"Are you trying to compel me?" Elena rasped, spluttering laughter falling from her lips around the hold Klaus had on her. "Try again, I'm immune." She smiled, holding up her wrist to display a silver bracelet.

Klaus's assured face fell into a glare as he growled at her. "This isn't a laughing matter. Turn it on, or I will tear your heart from your chest."

"Let her go." Elijah said firmly, glaring at his brother as he turned to look at him. "Now, Niklaus."

A muscle in Klaus's jaw twitched as he looked back at his older brother, Elena falling unceremoniously to the floor a moment later; Davina, Caroline and Bonnie rushing to her side.

Elena laughed hysterically as she rolled onto her back, her hand holding her temporarily bruised throat as it healed.

"Are you insane?" Rebekah hissed, turning to Elijah. "She is making you sick because of her stubbornness!"

"We will not force her hand." Elijah reiterated firmly, looking behind his siblings to Bonnie and Davina. "I assume this sickness cannot become lethal?"

Davina shook her head, only meeting Elijah's eyes briefly before turning her attention back to Elena.

Elijah nodded. "Then that confirms it, we will not force Elena's hand in this matter. She will turn her emotions on when she is ready, no sooner." He met Elena's gaze fore a moment as her laughter died off, turning on his heel and leaving quickly, Hayley following him.

"What are you doing?" Hayley asked, trailing after Elijah as he walked up the stairs, ignoring his soft sigh of reply. "Klaus and Rebekah are right! That doppelganger is making you sick, Elijah, she doesn't get a choice in this!"

"Of course, she does." Elijah refuted, turning to face Hayley as he reached the hallway, her hovering a few stairs behind as she looked up at him. "What is this world if we take away people's choices?"

"She's making the wrong one." Hayley argued, shaking her head. "Can't you see that?"

"It doesn't matter." Elijah smiled at her, shaking his head slightly. "It's Elena's choice," he murmured, stressing her name, "whether anyone else believes she's making the right one or not."

"You're suffering because of it!" Hayley protested, her voice indignant as her brow furrowed. "How can you say that?"

Elijah smiled again, more to himself than to Hayley. "I would suffer fates a thousand times worse than this for her, Hayley. This is nothing."

"Why her?" Hayley asked, causing Elijah to pause and turn back to face her as she shook her head. "Of all people, her?"

"Elena is…everything good in this world; she's everything I lost to my vampirism." Elijah mused, a sad smile still on his face. "She's a good person, Hayley, I know the two of you haven't gotten along, but you should give her a chance."

Elena's throat was burning as she let out a scream. Sweat beaded on her brow, the broiling heat barely a thought in the back of her head as she found herself unable to move save for one of her hands. Another pair of hands groped at her body, finding themselves swiftly batted away with a soft growl.

Elena screamed again, throwing back the line of shots in front of her one by one, a cheer erupting in the packed courtyard of the Abattoir as she slammed the last glass down on the bar.

"I didn't expect to see you here tonight." A familiar shouted from behind her, making Elena smile.

"You said your doors were always open!" Elena reminded him, turning to look at Marcel.

Marcel held his hands up in a mock surrender, laughing as she nodded approvingly at his gesture. "I thought you'd be with Elijah, what with-"

Elena threw a finger over his lips, her eyes narrowing at his words. "We are not talking about that tonight; we're actively not talking about it."

Marcel nodded slightly, shrugging as Elena took her finger away from his lips. "Understood." He gestured to the make-shift bar behind them. "Shots? Or are you after something a bit more long-term?"

"Shots." Elena grinned, spinning on her heel and strutting back to the bar. "Definitely shots."

"You've caught a lot of eyes tonight." Marcel called to Elena, the loudness of the music stopping them from talking normally. "This lot aren't used to seeing a vampire of your magnificence in here."

"Flattery suits you." Elena scoffed, sipping at the cocktail in her hands as she swayed to the beat. Her hair was half-up, curled in loose ringlets that swished against her bare back as she moved.

"I try." Marcel grinned, winking at Elena when she laughed again at his words. His eyes darted off to an area behind her, his face falling grave as he looked back at her with a quick flash of a tight smile. "Excuse me, something requires my attention."

Elena returned his smile briefly as he walked away, dismissing any concern about the situation behind her as she allowed the music and atmosphere to flood her senses again. She rocked easily to the music, absently sipping at the drink in her hand every so often when she remembered it was there. Another body soon joined behind her, hands on her hips as they rocked together.

Elena hummed happily, allowing the new presence to slowly try to seduce her. Maybe she should go for it; she'd never slept with anyone without any strings attached, it was probably something she should try while she had the capacity to enjoy it.

The feel of fangs on her neck snapped her out of her thoughts and she rolled her eyes, perhaps it wasn't something to try.

She flipped the man over her shoulder, pinning him to the ground as she twisted his arm behind him, popping his shoulder out of place. "Only one person feeds on me, and it's not you." She growled, throwing his arm down and stalking away, irritated that she'd now lost her drink and her source of fun.

Elena ordered another drink, and a shot, damn vampire metabolism, getting in the way of getting drunk.

"Everything okay?" Marcel asked, sidling up beside Elena. "Raf says you threw his arm out."

"He was going to bite me." Elena returned, her eyes narrowed. "Asshole deserved worse."

Marcel shrugged. "Okay, fair enough." He let out a sigh, tuning to the bartender and gesturing for a drink.

"You look stressed." Elena noted, taking a sip of the cocktail she was presented with through a straw. "Busy night?"

Marcel huffed, rolling his eyes. "You could say that, your Salvatores tried to crash the party, no sense of discretion where you're concerned."

"Stefan and Damon were here?"

"Tried to be," Marcel shrugged, "we moved them along pretty quickly."

Elena let out a soft hum of acknowledgement, sipping at her drink again, holding the straws in place as she drank.

"They seemed under the impression you wanted to see them."

Elena snorted, not sure why she was so surprised that they would try something like that.

"That's about what I assumed." Marcel chuckled, taking a large mouthful from his drink as soon as it was handed to him. "They were pretty pissed when you left the plantation without talking to them."

Elena rolled her eyes in response, shaking her head slightly. "They don't know how to take a hint."

"So I've noticed."

"Have you ever turned your emotions off, Marcel?" Elena asked, turning to face him fully, resting her elbows on the bar behind her.

Marcel shook his head slowly. "I've considered it, but I've never gone through with it."

"Why didn't you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I felt like things could always get worse. I always treated it as a one time deal, so I didn't want to waste it."

"Have you ever wished you had?"

Marcel laughed, shaking his head as he took another mouthful of his drink. "I didn't realise we were playing twenty questions."

"I'm surprised you know what twenty questions is." Elena quipped back, laughing when he choked on his drink at her remark, glaring at her as he wiped some beer from his chin.

"I'm down with the lingo." Marcel argued, his voice indignant and the matching expression reaching his face when Elena only laughed at him.

"That's exactly what people who aren't 'down with the lingo' say." She laughed, shaking her head. "Just, fyi."

Marcel didn't say anything, only scoffing as he took a sip of his drink, assessing the room around them, keeping an eye out for any vampires causing trouble.

Elena scanned the room in a similar fashion, although she was only striving to take in the area around her; entranced by the décor and layout of the courtyard. The balcony and the rooms adorning it caught her attention, and she tilted her head as she took them in.

"Do you live here?" She blurted before she could stop herself, a raised eyebrow from Marcel the only signifier of his surprise.

"I do." He confirmed, stopping his perusal of the room to turn back to Elena, a clear question written on his face.

"Can I see?"

Elena wasn't really sure how they'd ended up here.

One minute, Marcel was giving her a tour of the rest of the compound, the music muffled but still pulsing up through the floor, and the brightness of the compound lending a startling sense of sobriety. The next minute, Elena found herself pressed up against a wall, her legs wrapped around Marcel's waist as they kissed, her hands clumsily pushing his jacket from his shoulders; swiftly moving on to start tugging up the bottom of his t-shirt.

Marcel put a hand over hers, breaking their kiss with a soft gasp of breath. The two remained like that for several long minutes, Elena wedged between the wall and Marcels body as they fought to regain the ability to speak.

"You should be talking everything out with Elijah, not here." Marcel said eventually, stepping away from Elena so that she could stand, but holding her arm so she couldn't walk away. "What the two of you have is special, Elena, most people would give anything to find their soulmate."

"We're not soulmates." Elena bit, tugging at the hold he had on her, glaring at him when he refused to let her go.

"Of course, you are." Marcel said, a confused frown tugging at his brow. "What else did you think 'bound souls' meant?"

Elena frowned, although it came out closer to a pout as she refused to look in Marcel's direction. "I don't know, like some witch just…decided to bind us together."

Marcel let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. "No, Elena, god, no wonder you left like you did."

Elena frowned at him, confused at the quick shift in Marcel's demeanour.

"Come on," Marcel prompted, gently pulling at Elena's arm, "come sit down."

Elena perched on the edge of his bed, folding her arms over her chest when Marcel let go of her. She crossed one leg over the other as Marcel sat next to her, waiting for him to start talking.

"Ligatus Animarum…it's not a spell placed on you, Elena, it's a genuine bond, between two souls that are each other's equal in every way. It's for two people who perfectly compliment each other; who bring out the best in each other, and who understand each other in a way no one else can. It's not something that can be placed on you by a witch or anyone else. You're born with it, and if you get lucky you find the other half who is meant to be your forever.

"So, literally soulmates." Elena breathed, dying to hit herself for how stupid she'd been.

"That's the simplest way to explain it, yeah."

Chapter Text

"Oh my god! No wonder Elijah was so upset with me!" Elena exploded suddenly, launching up from the bed to pace the length of the room. "You're saying that he just found out we were destined to be together, and I told him to go to hell!"

"You actually-"

"No, I didn't actually tell him to go to hell!" Elena snapped over Marcel, rubbing her brow with her hand. "I might as well have done! I didn't realise that was what it meant! I'm just so tired of being manipulated that I took it out on him! He thinks I've pushed him away and I might have lost my damn soulmate!" She ranted, pacing the length of the bed quickly.

Even with Marcel's advanced hearing, he was having trouble keeping up with Elena as she ranted, continuing to mutter to herself as she kept walking, covering her face with her hands.

"Oh my god, and you, how crushed would Elijah have been if I'd have slept with you! Marcel I'm so sorry! I don't even-"

"Elena, breathe." Marcel instructed, appearing in front of her and grabbing her by the shoulders to stop her pacing. "Just breathe for a second, Elijah will understand; you didn't realise what it meant, it's okay."

Elena stared at Marcel, her chest heaving slightly as she tried to reign in her racing thoughts. "Marcel, what do I do now?" She breathed, shaking her head. "I don't know what to do."

"We'll figure something out, Elena, it's gonna be okay." Marcel said softly, holding back his confusion as he reassured the girl in front of him, not sure about her sudden flash of emotion.

Elena looked around the room suddenly, searching for something. "I need to-" She cut off suddenly, clapping her hands over her mouth. "Jeremy's dead." She whispered behind her hands. "Oh my god, Jeremy's dead." She cried, Marcel catching her as her knees buckled under her and she fell to the floor, her tears falling readily.

Elijah was roused from his book by the sound of hurried pounding at the front door of the plantation house. He closed his book with a frown, putting it aside as he stood from his chair and left his study, making it to the stairs in a blur as the other occupants of the house came from their rooms, Hayley still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"What the blazes is that?" Rebekah asked, she and Klaus both moving to the top of the stairs as Elijah reached the bottom.

Elijah wrenched the door open, his composed mask falling from his face at the sight of Elena cradled in Marcel's arms.

"Marcellus?" Elijah asked, his siblings arriving behind him with similar looks of confusion on their faces. "What happened?"

"She turned it on." Marcel explained softly, looking down at the girl in his arms sadly.

"Come in." Elijah said instantly, opening the door wider for Marcel without any hesitation, shutting it behind him before turning back to the pair of vampires.

"She fell asleep about ten minutes ago." Marcel murmured, gently passing Elena over to Elijah when he saw the expression on the normally aloof Original's face. "She was pretty distraught, kept talking about her brother."

Elijah nodded, taking in the information as easily as he'd accepted Elena, looking down at her when her fist grabbed a handful of his shirt in her sleep.

Marcel cleared his throat slightly after a moment, passing a jacket and clutch off to Rebekah and smiling slightly at Elijah and Elena. "It's late, I'll leave you guys to look after her."

"Marcel," Elijah murmured, stopping him in his tracks as he headed towards the door, "thank you."

Marcel nodded, offering Elijah another tight smile and letting himself out of the house, shutting the door softly behind himself.

Elena woke up slowly, confused and dazed. The last thing she remembered was falling apart in Marcel's arms, but this didn't look like the Compound; it looked more familiar.

She was in her room at the Plantation house. How the hell had she gotten there?

She rolled over with a soft sigh, startled when she realised Elijah was sat in the armchair in the corner of her room, a book in his lap. He was asleep, his head resting against the back of the chair, but Elena imagined he hadn't meant to fall asleep.

Maybe if she was quiet enough she could sneak away from here? Run to the ends of the Earth to spare Elijah anymore pain from her face.

She hadn't even managed to sit up fully before the rustling of the duvet woke Elijah. He sat up with a startled gasp, blinking owlishly as he took stock of his surroundings.

"Elena." He blurted, his voice husky from sleep until he cleared his throat and tried again. "My apologies, I did not mean to fall asleep."

"It's okay." Elena said softly, pulling her knees up to her chest as she looked at Elijah, suddenly very aware of the scant dress that her duvet had fallen to reveal. "Why are you here?"

Elijah blinked. He went to open his mouth before changing his mind, taking a breath. "Of course, my apologies." He murmured again, standing from the chair he was in to leave.

Elena realised with a start he thought that she didn't want him there, blinking away her confusion she whispered to his retreating back. "That's not what I meant."

Elijah paused at her door, hand on the doorknob, his shoulders sagging as he let out a breath. "Then, I must confess I don't understand what you did mean." He said softly, not turning around for a few long moments until he realised Elena wasn't going to say anything.

She patted the bed beside her when he finally did turn around, shuffling over to one side to make more room for him. While his back had been turned, she'd darted to the wardrobe in the corner and plucked out one of the suit jackets she'd stolen from him, not really sure why he'd let her keep them.

Any resistance Elijah had melted away at the sight of her hunched on her bed, his suit jacket wrapped around her, swamping her tiny frame. Her formerly flawlessly styled hair was tangled and the half that had been tied up was falling down; her makeup was smeared, and she had remnants of mascara under her eyes, from the crying or the sleep he wasn't sure. All the same, Elijah thought she looked beautiful.

She was pained and broken, and Elijah longed for nothing more than to hold her in his arms and protect her from any more hurt, but she wasn't his to defend. She'd made that clear.

Despite it, he found himself perching on the side of her bed, cautiously pulling his legs up beside him, his shoe-clad feet dangling off the edge to avoid dirtying her sheets.

He found himself even more surprised when she reached out to place her hands over his, though she avoided his eyes when he looked up at her.

"I didn't mean to say I don't want you here." She said softly, staring at where she covered his hand with her own. "I just don't understand why you are." She shook her head when he opened his mouth to speak, smiling slightly when he snapped it shut obediently, understanding her need for more time. "I have been…awful to you, and yet, you've been nothing but kind in return."

"Elena-"

Again, she shook her head, stopping him short in his tracks. "I don't know what I've done to deserve such kindness and respect from you, Elijah, especially now, but all I can do is thank you. You've looked after me when I didn't deserve it, and it means a lot."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else, Elena." He said softly, turning his hand up to hold one of the ones she covered it with. "You deserve every ounce of compassion that I and this world have to offer."

Elena let out a soft, shuddering breath, closing her eyes as a tear fell free, sliding down her cheek slowly and splashing onto her hand.

"What happened?" Elijah prompted gently, running his thumb across the back of her hand. "Why did you return to your emotions?"

"I didn't mean to." She admitted, letting out a soft laugh. "It wasn't a conscious choice…it was kind of like…a bunch of dominoes falling." She shook her head, closing her eyes with another laugh. "That's the only way I can describe it. More and more built up, and at Marcel's last night, I guess the dam broke."

Elijah didn't say anything, waiting for Elena to continue or prompt him to talk.

"Elijah, I-I can't even look at you, how am I supposed to face anyone after how I've acted?" Her final words were choked, a product of the tears that sprung to her eyes and force their way out. She stifled a sob, allowing Elijah to shift them and pull her against his side, enveloping her in his arms, an encompassing sense of comfort that she didn't deserve.

The two remained in near silence for a few minutes, the only sound the intermittent sniffle or sob from Elena. Elijah held her firmly, leaning his chin on the crown of her head as she wept, occasionally rubbing her back with his hand softly.

"Bonnie and Caroline are here," Elijah murmured eventually, listening to the conversations downstairs, "they want to see you, I don't think they know about your humanity."

"I can't." Elena denied quickly, pulling away from Elijah to finally look him in the eyes. "Elijah, I can't deal with them now, I can't, I-"

"It's okay." He interrupted, sensing the quick downward spiral about to happen. "I'll send them away, you don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"Thank you." Elena murmured to the vampire who was already disappearing down the stairs to explain the situation to the two girls from Mystic Falls.

Elijah wasn't gone long, but by the time he returned, the book he'd pretended to be reading until he fell asleep was set outside Elena's door, and upon trying the handle, he found the room to be locked. The sound of the shower running would have had the desired impact if it had been a human at Elena's door, but Elijah could still hear her sobs, only slightly muffled by the running water.

With a soft sigh, he collected his book and turned away from the room, willing to leave Elena alone for now if that was what she wanted.

"Can I talk to her?"

Elijah sighed, studying the two figures in front of him. Davina was resolute, her chin held high, daring him to tell her no; Marcel sat beside her, masked concern bleeding into his features. He was less resolute than the young witch, but that didn't mean he cared any less.

"She hasn't left her room for nearly three days." Elijah said softly, letting out another soft breath. "She barely eats, I had to threaten to break the door down and force blood down her throat before she would take anything we left her."

Davina and Marcel shared a look of worry briefly, turning back to Elijah after a second.

"What are you saying?" Davina asked, folding her hands together in her lap to hide her nervousness.

"You can try and talk to her," Elijah allowed with a soft nod of his head, "but don't be surprised if she doesn't listen."

Davina nodded solemnly, standing from the couch at the same time as Elijah stood from his chair, ready to lead her to Elena's room.

Elijah sighed when they reached her room, bending down to retrieve the empty glass of blood from the floor. "I don't know if she actually drinks it," he admitted, rolling the glass between his hands slightly, "she could just pour it away. I suppose I just hope that she doesn't." He explained at Davina's confused look, smiling sadly. "There isn't much else I can do."

With another glance towards Elena's door, Elijah disappeared, leaving Elena and Davina as alone as he could, in spite of his enhanced hearing.

"Elena?" Davina asked quietly, knocking at the door. When she received no reply, she turned around, sitting with her back to Elena's door and her knees drawn to her chest. "Marcel told me what happened." She said, resting her chin on her knees. "We're worried about you…Elijah's worried about you."

Elena still didn't reply, and Davina let out a soft sigh, closing her eyes as she took in a deep breath, using her magic she could sense that Elena was awake, so at the very least, she wasn't talking to herself.

"I don't know what you're going through, but I know how it feels to hurt the people you care about, I can't really offer much advice, except that…the people you care about are still here for you, Elena. They still love you." Davina paused, clearing her throat slightly. "I haven't known you with your emotions, but you were still kind to me, and if you're like that without your humanity, then you must be the most incredible friend with it."

Elena wiped away tears, swallowing a sob as she returned her hand to wrap around her knees; she leant against the door, fighting any urge to open it.

"We're all here for you, Elena." Davina reminded quietly. "I understand not wanting to face the people you think you've hurt, but you haven't hurt me, or Marcel, we're both here if you want to talk."

Davina nodded to herself when she still heard no reply, standing up and turning to face the door, leaning her forehead against it. "Okay, I'll leave you to your space," she smiled to herself, closing her eyes, "you know where we are if you need anything."

Davina lingered for a moment longer before turning and heading downstairs, unaware of the sobbing coming from the doppelganger on the other side of the bedroom door.

Chapter Text

Elena had been locked in her room for a week.

Davina and Marcel hadn't returned, content to leave Elena in the peace she wanted until she reached out to them. Caroline, Bonnie and the Salvatore's had all made appearances most days, the former two were less content with leaving Elena alone, but they were able to listen to Elijah's reasoning. The Salvatore's, on the other hand, had been prevented from tearing Elena's door down on two separate occasions.

They were adamant that they knew what was best for Elena, and that consisted of dragging her back to Mystic Falls now that she was 'back in her right mind'. The thought had Elijah furious. He had to remind himself that Elena was not his; he could not get involved where he was unsure if she wanted him to.

Elijah paused in his movements to put the customary glass of blood on the floor outside Elena's door, confused when his senses noticed a change before he could put his finger on what it was. It took him a few moments to realise the difference, some tension falling from his shoulders when he recognised it.

Elena wasn't crying.

Instead of the sound he'd reluctantly become accustomed to, he could hear a rhythmic brushing sound, making him smile and lean his forehead against the door in relief. She was brushing her hair. Aside from the crying, Elijah had heard very few noises come from her room, mostly the shower running, or the occasional walking around; the sound of her brush was like music to his ears.

He knocked softly, straightening away from the door, prepared to place the blood down and leave, as was usual. Instead, further surprising him, he heard Elena's voice croak for him to come in. She cleared her throat immediately after, not used to talking after a week of silence.

Elijah opened the door softly, smiling at the sight of Elena dressed in the outfit she could find closest to what she would wear before she'd abandoned her emotions. Her hair was back to being perfectly straight, and she was lightly running her brush through it.

"I brought you something to drink." Elijah broached, not sure what else to say, awkwardly offering the glass to her.

Elena smiled gratefully, standing from the bed and placing her brush on the bedside table before taking the glass from Elijah. "Thank you." She whispered, smiling at him again as she drank the blood quickly, closing her eyes as the fluid refreshed her.

"How are you feeling?" Elijah asked, slipping his hands into the pockets of his slacks now that he was relieved of the blood.

"Lost." Elena said eventually, fiddling with the glass in her hand. "Honesty, right?" She said with a quirked eyebrow at Elijah's startled look.

"Of course." Elijah smiled, brushing aside his confusion.

"I think I can make it out of this bedroom, at least, so that's a win in my book." Elena shrugged, taking a deep breath to steel her nerves.

Elijah smiled, nodding slightly. "Then I shall keep you no longer." He said quietly, gesturing to the doorframe.

Elena paused as she reached the doorway, turning back to Elijah. "Are the others here?"

Elijah shook his head. "No, they're out dealing with some witch business or another, they have all tried to keep out of the plantation to give you some space."

Elena swallowed thickly, bobbing her head. "Remind me to thank them for that."

Elijah let out a soft laugh, amazed by how much he'd missed Elena's voice. "I will endeavour to remind you." He said solemnly, relishing in the answering, genuine, smile he received.

Suddenly, Elena took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few moments before opening them again. "Is that coffee I smell?"

Elijah let out a soft scoff, amused at the sudden turn of Elena's attitude. "It is, I haven't long put on a pot."

"I could kill for a cup." Elena breathed, her body stiffening when she realised the implications of what she'd said.

"I often feel the same." Elijah said softly, smiling at the brunette to try and reassure her.

Thankfully, Elena let out a soft laugh, grateful for him trying to lighten the mood. "I can't imagine you in a caffeine withdrawal."

"You don't want to." Elijah quipped, joining Elena's side as she continued her journey downstairs. "It's not a very pretty sight."

Elena laughed again, the two lapsing into a not uncomfortable silence, neither of them really sure what to say next.

Despite protests from Elena, she sat at the kitchen island while Elijah fixed her a mug of coffee, and another bag of blood at Elena's hesitant request. He'd told her never to be afraid of asking him for anything and had swiftly warmed the bag slightly for her.

Elena sipped at the blood leisurely, controlling her thirst as Elijah continued to prepare their drinks.

After a few short minutes, Elijah placed two mugs of coffee down on the island, slipping into a seat beside Elena as she finished her blood.

"You can ask." Elena said eventually, staring at the mug she now held between her hands. "Whatever you want to know, I'll probably be able to answer easier if you just ask."

"You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." Elijah assured her quickly.

"I want to." Elena whispered, continuing to stare at the slowly swirling coffee in front of her. "I don't know where to start."

"Why did you turn it on?" Elijah asked hesitantly, not sure where else to start.

Elena smiled slightly, closing her eyes. "You started it," she muttered, amusing herself with the childish petulance that bled into her voice, "chipping away at my walls." Elijah smiled at her, taking a sip from his coffee. "I went to one of Marcel's parties; I was going to sleep with him," she admitted in a whisper, not able to make herself look up and see the pain on his face that she was sure would be there, hidden or not, "he stopped me…us." She sighed, shaking her head. "Asked why I was there instead of with you, because of the lig-" Elena stopped herself, frowning, what the hell had Davina called it?

"Ligatus Animarum." Elijah supplied softly, a soft clearing of his throat the only thing giving him away at all.

Elena nodded, letting out a soft breath. "Right, that." She found her eyes shutting again as she took in another breath, searching for the right words, the one good thing about not having her emotions was that she hadn't worried how her words would come off, so she'd had no problem finding the right ones. "I didn't really realise what it meant." She whispered, finally picking up her mug to take a mouthful of coffee. "I thought it was just a spell, put on us by some…I don't even know who I thought was responsible, but I thought it was just something that was created. Marcel, he told me it's basically like soulmates."

She paused, waiting for Elijah to confirm or deny her words.

"Again, I find Marcellus is correct." He said quietly, Elena just about recognising the tension in his voice. "That is the best way to surmise Davina and Bonnie's findings."

"I didn't know that was what it meant until he told me." She repeated, her head bowed. "It made me realise how much I must have hurt you that night, when I left." She took a longer breath this time, holding it for a moment as she fought back tears. "When I realised what it meant, all I could think was that I needed-" she hiccupped slightly, releasing her coffee cup and angrily brushing away tears, "was that I needed to call Jeremy, and tell him what was going on." She managed to croak around the fire in her throat, dropping her head into her hands as her shoulders trembled.

Somehow, Elena managed to make Elijah jump when she sent her coffee cup flying across the room, the coffee pot following shortly after.

"I'm so sick of crying." She screamed, the only thing keeping her from wreaking more havoc on the kitchen being Elijah's arms wrapping around her like a steel cage as she reached for her chair.

He held her against him tightly, forcing away the pain he felt at seeing her so distraught, now was not the time.

"Let go of me!" Elena shouted, determined to break anything she could get her hands on, and frustrated when Elijah wouldn't let her. "Let me go! Let go of me!" She cried over and over again, no longer screaming as her knees buckled under her and she fell against Elijah completely, overcome by her weeping.

It had taken Elena the better part of an hour to calm back down.

The minimal makeup she'd managed to apply was ruined, and her carefully brushed hair was tangled and tousled again. Her eyes were red and puffy, and dried blood marred her right hand where she'd tried to clean up the mess she'd made with the mug and coffee pot.

Elijah had eventually convinced her to take a seat on the couch and stop trying to clean up the shards of glass and china, her tear-laden eyes making her barely able to see what she was trying to do, and leading to more cuts and mess than actual cleaning.

He'd passed her a box of tissues and disappeared, reappearing a moment later with a blanket and a glass of water. Perplexingly, his wrapping the blanket around her shoulder had only served to increase her crying, leading to Elijah freezing, worried that he'd upset her further. His fear lasted only a few moments before she leant her head on his shoulder, keeping him effectively rooted to the spot. He'd awkwardly wrapped an arm around her shoulders, not sure at all what else to do to comfort her.

Eventually, Elena had pulled away from him, pulling tissues from the box Elijah had presented her with and wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She murmured eventually, her voice hoarse. "I've hurt you so much, I don't deserve to be here, selfishly seeking comfort from you."

"Elena," Elijah breathed, forever stunned by the woman in front of him, "I could never see you as selfish, even with your emotions abandoned, you are not a selfish person." He gently smoothed her knotted and wayward hair back, out of her face, and behind her shoulders. "As for any hurt you may have caused me, you were not yourself, Elena, even after we learned of our bond, clearly there were things that you did not understand, I find myself at fault for not explaining it to you better."

Elena shook her head at him, determined to argue with him, but backing down when she saw the resolute look on his face.

"Your actions without your humanity, have changed nothing, Elena, not for me." He said, smiling at her startled expression. "Honesty, right?" He parroted her words from earlier, making her smile and let out a soft breath of laughter.

"Right."

They hadn't had much more of a chance to talk before the rest of the household had returned home, sending Elena scurrying away to her room, lacking any such strength required to face them. Elijah mourned the loss of her presence, he'd spent a week without her around, and despite the sickness dissolving, it seemed like there was less light in the room when she wasn't there.

He sounded foolish, even in his own thoughts.

The hours had passed by seamlessly, Elijah only half noticing his siblings and Hayley attempting to talk to him briefly before giving up and moving on. Before he knew it, it was dark outside, and he could hear the sounds of Elena hesitantly wandering from her room.

After another brief moment, the sound of water splashing pierced his ears, he assumed Elena had dived into the pool, beginning laps quickly thereafter.

Elijah wandered out to the pool, settling in one of the chairs by the poolside, as had become a casual custom for Elena and himself with her emotions off. He undid the button on his jacket, relaxing into the chair and tilting his head up slightly to admire the stars.

"I'm sorry." Elena said softly, breaking through the silence in the air. "I didn't mean to disturb your peace."

"You've done nothing of the sort." Elijah reassured easily, turning his head down to smile at the brunette, she was leaning on the poolside, her elbows resting there and her chin in her hands. "I would not be out here otherwise."

"I guess that makes sense." Elena murmured, quirking her lips at him slightly. "I've always found swimming calming, I guess I was hoping it might help me think."

Elijah tilted his head at her. "Is that why you spent so much time out here while your emotions were abandoned?"

Elena smiled again, letting out a soft scoff. "Some days, you would just tear through my walls like they weren't even there, she…I couldn't understand it, didn't like it, didn't want it, take your pick."

"It was your way of running away." Elijah surmised, filling in what Elena wouldn't quite say. "What are you running from now?"

Elena laughed but it lacked any mirth, only coming off empty and hollow. "What aren't I running from?" She broke the gaze they shared, looking down at the poolside pensively. "I'm not sure there's anything on that list at the moment."

"I don't wish for you to feel like you must run from me, Elena." Elijah sat beside Elena's arms, dangling his then bare feet into the pool. "If you ever want space, you need only ask."

"I really don't know where to go from here." Elena admitted, dropping her chin from her hands to rest in the crook of one of her elbows. "There's so much to juggle right now, I don't know where to start, or how to deal with any of it."

"You could not plan it." Elijah offered with a soft smile. "Have you considered that, perhaps, your adamance to plan for how to deal with everything is leaving your hands tied to avenues of possible solutions?"

Elena let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. "How do you always do that?"

"What?" Elijah asked, his brow furrowed with innocent confusion.

"Make me feel like a foolish child who can barely see in front of herself."

"You're anything but, Elena. You carry a wisdom and grace beyond your years; you may be slightly…misplaced at the current time, but I have no doubt you will find your way back to yourself soon enough."

"You think way too much of me." Elena scoffed slightly, aware of her skin flushing; hoping that the cover of darkness would hide it from Elijah's sharp eyes. "After everything I've done." She shook her head slightly, not lifting it from her hands, feeling no need to say anything more.

"We have all done bad things, I fear it is the very nature of our kind, but you reacted perfectly naturally to something that was forced upon you, no-one can blame you for that."

Elena only managed to hold his gaze for a moment before she drew away from the conversation, blinking away tears as she lifted her head from her hands. "Do you swim?"

Elijah only blinked at the change of topic, Elena finding herself immensely grateful that he knew when to leave something alone. "Not for a long time." He denied softly, looking away at the water. "That was always Kol's hobby more than any of us."

Elena closed her eyes, letting out a huff of breath. "I'm so sorry about Kol, Elijah, he tried to kill Jeremy, I couldn't let that happen."

Startled, Elijah turned back to Elena, his eyes wide. "You killed Kol?"

"I thought you knew." Elena murmured, genuinely surprised at the shock in Elijah's tone. "Jeremy, he delivered the final blow, but we were both involved, I had to stop him, Klaus was there, I thought-"

"He didn't tell me." Elijah muttered darkly, withdrawing his feet from the pool and standing up in a swift movement.

Elena flew from the pool after him, her eyes wide. "Elijah."

"Elena," Elijah said firmly, shaking his head as she reached out to him, "I believe you do not hold such malicious intent in your heart, and I am sure there were extenuating circumstances, but I cannot talk about this now." Elijah watched as she withdrew her hand, looking down at the floor, the only sound for a few moments being the water dripping from her body. "We will discuss this, but I need some time, Elena."

"I understand." She whispered, finding herself blinking back tears again as Elijah disappeared.

Chapter Text

After Elijah had left her, Elena had barely moved for what felt like forever, but in reality was only about ten minutes. By the time she wandered inside, her skin had airdried and only her hair remained dripping.

She wandered through the house in a daze, too bound by confusion at Klaus not taking the opportunity to rat her out to Elijah to notice the brunette rounding the corner.

"God, you could at least watch where you're going!" Hayley snapped, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at Elena.

"Sorry, I didn't expect anyone else to be up." Elena muttered, looking down at their feet rather than up at the werewolf; Elijah aside, Hayley was the first person Elena had encountered face to face since she'd regained her emotions. Part of her sensed that she needed to try and regain her footing with someone more stable before dealing with the likes of Hayley.

"Clearly." Hayley sneered, rolling her eyes and stepping around Elena with a huff.

Elena let out a soft sigh, closing her eyes for a moment to try and calm the emotions that were flaring inside of her. Trying to suddenly control any emotions, after several weeks without any, was like pouring water on a grease fire, except she had no idea what her equivalent of baking soda was.

Hayley scoffed again as she walked away. "I have no idea what he sees in you."

"Excuse me?" Elena bit, spinning to face the wolf, any semblance of controlling her emotions flying out of the window.

"Elijah thinks so damn highly of you, but you're just a cruel, manipulative bitch who takes delight in hurting everyone around her."

Elena let out a bitter laugh, glaring at the girl in front of her. "You are so full of crap." She hissed, shaking her head disbelievingly, "You're responsible for the deaths of twelve hybrids who trusted you, and you still think you have some sort of moral high ground here?"

"At least I didn't get my whole family killed." Hayley bit back, her eyes dark.

Elena's face fell, the veins under her eyes darkening and her fangs lengthening as she launched herself at the wolf. Her fury overriding everything else, aside from the pair of arms that grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away from Hayley.

A growl tore from Elena's throat as she felt hands restraining her easily, she just about registered a bare-chested Klaus stood protectively in front of Hayley before she was spun to face Elijah. His relinquished grip on her was a mere illusion as his hands firmly kept hold of the tops of her arms.

"Elena." He snapped, the hardness of his voice vaguely making Elena wonder if she'd ever heard such a tone directed at her before.

She ignored him, glaring at the woman behind him instead, trying to move to attack her, frustrated when she couldn't gain an inch over Elijah. Pretending to herself that she was too furious to look away from Hayley, something inside of her was denying the anger; understanding that she couldn't bare to look at his face after the pain she'd caused him.

"Look at me." Elijah said firmly, unintentionally shaking her shoulders slightly. "Elena."

Finally, she drew her gaze from Hayley, looking up at Elijah with a clenched jaw and hardened eyes, even as her fangs and veins faded away, unable to remain as she looked at him.

Instead of the pain she expected to see scrawled across his face, his features were carefully blank, paving the way for a soft, relieved smile as she looked at him. He let out a soft breath, lightening his hold on her arms and gently rubbing them slightly in way of apology.

"You do not want to do this, Elena, we both know that." Elijah whispered, trying to implore some of his composure onto her. "Your emotions are not fully in check, and you don't want to do something you may regret later."

Elena took in a long, shuddering breath, stunned at the compassion coming from Elijah, when only minutes earlier he'd been unable to remain in her presence. Her eyes welled slightly, and she shook her head, not sure what to say to the man in front of her.

"I can't stay here, Elijah." She whispered back, just about registering Klaus pulling Hayley away from the pair, giving them some room to talk, despite the fact that Hayley couldn't hear them. "Not now, after tonight, I-"

"You're running again." Elijah said softly, smiling at her when she went to argue with him. "It's alright, Elena," he assured her quickly, "if I am being perfectly honest with you, I never thought you would stay here this long after regaining your emotions."

"You told me to stop running," Elena pointed out softly, "maybe not in so many words, but still."

"And yet, I ran." Elijah said with a slight shrug. "It would be rather hypocritical of me to begrudge you running from the situation you find yourself in."

Elena let out a breathy laugh, shaking her head slightly. How on Earth did he manage to see things so clearly? He'd been so upset with her half an hour ago, now it was like talking to a different person, would she ever be able to do that?

"Here," Elijah said suddenly, releasing her arms completely and pulling something from his pocket, "take this."

"Elijah." She breathed, shaking her head as he tried to hand her a black piece of plastic. "I cannot take your card."

"Please." He said softly, placing the card in her hand and wrapping hers around it. "Take the card, find somewhere to stay for the night, although, I would recommend staying away from The Luxe, I believe that's where you friends have taken residence."

"Elijah-"

He shook his head slightly, cutting off anything she'd been about to say. "One night, Elena, we can figure out something more permanent tomorrow. I won't take no for an answer." He said, raising an eyebrow when she still hesitated.

Elena let out a soft sigh at his words, shaking her head as she studied the card in her hand. "Fine." She relented, absently twirling the plastic in her hands.

"Don't worry about price." Elijah said with a smile. "I can afford it."

Elena had ignored Elijah's advice about the cost of her hotel room. Of course.

It landed her in a slightly dingy hotel, but it was quiet, off the radar, and, most importantly, something that she could actually afford to pay him back.

Come morning, she found herself standing outside a familiar door, feeling more of a stranger than anything else. She took a calming breath, drawing in her resolve and forcing herself to knock on the door lightly.

Curious blue eyes peered around the door, widening when they took in Elena stood there.

"I think I'm ready to talk now." Elena whispered, her hands in her pockets as she avoided the eyes staring back at her. "If the offer still stands."

"Of course, it does." Davina breathed, opening the door widely with a brilliant smile. "Come on in."

"She said what?" Davina hissed, the air crackling as fury seeped from the young girl.

Elena quirked her lips slightly at her, not sure what to say to try and comfort her, she assumed Davina and Marcel didn't know about Hayley's condition, and, while they wouldn't hurt her, she had no idea how far Marcel would be happy to go to hurt Klaus. "Elijah and Klaus showed up before things got…uglier." Elena shrugged after a moment, tilting her head at the witch from her position on the bed.

"What happened?" Davina asked gently, sitting back beside Elena, her legs folded under her.

Elena let out a long breath, breaking eye contact with Davina and looking at her easel instead, studying the current sketch the younger girl was working on. "He was so kind to me; I don't understand how." She muttered, shaking her head.

"You expected him to hate you." Davina supplied, blinking several times as she thought through what Elena had already told her about the night. "What happened with his brother? You skimmed over it while we were talking, but you didn't fill in many details."

"Kol." Elena sighed, rubbing her temples slightly. "Jeremy was one of the five, that meant that he had a mark on his arm, like a tattoo, but invisible to everyone aside from other members of the five. Once the mark was completed it would lead to Silas, the world's first immortal being." She sighed again. "Kol didn't want that to happen, so he tried to kill Jeremy. We manage to find the one thing that will kill and Original and Jeremy put him down, with my help."

"So, you didn't kill Kol?" Davina said softly, skimming over the information about Silas. "Jeremy did, and you were only trying to protect your family."

"I was responsible." Elena denied, shaking her head. "Katherine used Silas to kill Jeremy, she didn't do it herself, but I hate her for it."

"Katherine had a choice," Davina said, tilting her head at Elena, "it doesn't sound like you did."

"There's always a choice." Elena muttered, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Elijah is known as the noble one for a reason, Elena, Kol forced your hand; I'm sure he can understand that better than anyone."

Elena let out another sigh, drawing her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them. "You're too rational for a teenager." She muttered, struggling to find more holes with Davina's arguments.

Davina laughed. "I have to be in this city."

Elena's features fell at the reminder of the torment Davina had already been had to in her life, and here Elena was unloading problems on her that she had no need to deal with. "I shouldn't be putting this on you," she murmured, shaking her head, "it's not fair."

"Elena," Davina smiled, rolling her eyes slightly, "I think of you as a friend, and I like to think that you consider me in the same way. I don't have much experience with friends lately, but I don't think I've been out of the loop long enough that sharing drama and guy problems isn't a common topic anymore."

Unintentionally letting out a snort, Elena hesitantly pulled Davina into a soft hug, closing her eyes as she embraced the first truly innocent moment of friendship she'd been a part of for a long time. "Anyone would be lucky to call you a friend, D." Elena whispered, squeezing her slightly before pulling away.

Davina smiled at her, letting out a soft sigh as she did so. "You're a good person, Elena, you just have a lot to deal with right now, and that's okay. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have not felt anything at all for weeks, and to deal with all of that on top of finding out what's going on with you and Elijah."

Elena scoffed softly, wrapping her arms around her legs again. "I think saying it's a lot is a bit of an understatement."

"Probably." Davina agreed with a light shrug, both of their gazes automatically falling to Elena's pocket as her phone chirped.

"It's Elijah." She said softly, reading the message. "He wants to talk."

"You should go." Davina urged, nodding at the brunette in front of her. "I get that your bond is scary right now, but I think that Elijah really does care about you; for what it's worth, from what I can find out, Ligatus Animarum doesn't have any effect on your emotions, everything you both feel is your own."

Elena swallowed thickly, unsure what to think about the implications of Davina's words, before deciding to try and put the thought to bed. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to want thoughts like that batting around in her head with the conversations that she and Elijah needed to have.

"I do believe I told you not to worry about cost." Elijah said pointedly, raising an eyebrow at Elena when she met him in the lobby of the hotel she'd stayed in for the night.

Elena shrugged slightly, not sure how Elijah managed to make her feel abashed about not spending more of his money than she needed to. "It's better than it looks."

Elijah only kept his eyebrow raised, his hands in the pockets of his slacks as he waited for Elena to elaborate.

"I didn't want to spend more than I could pay back." Elena muttered eventually, avoiding meeting his eyes, not wanting to see the disappointment she was sure would be written in them.

"I don't expect anything of the sort." Elijah breathed, shaking his head slightly. "I tried my best to make that clear."

Elena shrugged again, still avoiding looking at Elijah. "I think I've taken enough from you recently, I should never have even accepted your money." She sighed, looking at her feet.

"If you must insist on paying me back, then, please, allow me to buy you a drink, at least; we have much to discuss." Elijah gently placed a finger under her chin, making the doppelganger finally look at him, finding herself surprised, again, when there was no trace of anger on his features. "There's a lovely little café not far from him, they do the most delectable beignets."

Elena let out a soft laugh. "You should've led with that."

Chapter Text

The café was a bizarre contradiction. At first glance it seemed relatively empty, but once settled at a table, a warm buzz of conversation started up, making the café more cosy than it appeared.

Elena let out a soft breath, allowing the conversations to wash over her in a soft wave as she settled into her chair, smiling at Elijah when he placed a plate of beignets in the centre of the table and sat opposite her. She happily tucked into one of the pastries, her smile hidden behind a cloud of sugar as Elijah followed suit, both of them happily sitting in silence as they ate, waiting for their drinks to arrive.

They smiled and thanked the waitress in tandem as she put their drinks down, a pot of herbal tea for Elijah and a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows for Elena.

"I thought you had a thing for coffee." Elena said with a pointed tone, picking a marshmallow off her drink and eating it with a bit of cream.

"I have already had my fill of coffee for the day." Elijah smiled, pouring himself a mug of tea as Elena continued to pick at her marshmallows. "Anymore and I may take to bouncing from the walls." He quipped, supressing his delight when he drew a laugh from Elena.

She picked up another beignet, unable to stop herself from diving into the pastry again, Elijah had been right, of course, they were amazing. "I can't picture you on a caffeine high." Elena admitted, mumbling around a mouthful of fluffy pastry.

Elijah let out a soft huff of laughter, shaking his head slightly as he blew on his mug of tea to cool it. "I can't say I have ever experienced one." He smiled, sipping at his tea and putting his mug back on the table as Elena finished her beignet.

"Your friends stopped by this morning," Elijah started softly, studying Elena's reaction as she stiffened, her jaw clenching, "they were rather upset when I told them that you were unavailable."

Elena let out a long sigh, running a hand through her hair in frustration. "What happened?"

Shrugging his shoulders slightly, Elijah tilted his head as he looked at Elena, who was staring at her hot chocolate forlornly. "The Salvatores took some persuasion to leave, but ultimately, no harm was done; Miss Forbes asked me to pass along a message." Elena's head sprung up to look at him, her eyes wide and vulnerable as she waited for him to continue. "She asked me to tell you that she forgives you; she doesn't hold anything against you, and she's here for you whenever you want to talk."

Elena sent a pained smile Elijah's way, her eyes welling with tears as she swallowed thickly. "And you say I'm too compassionate." She quipped softly, her voice thick with emotion.

Elijah tilted his head at the brunette, watching her carefully as she picked at her marshmallows again to stop herself from having to meet Elijah's steady gaze.

"I tried to kill her," she whispered eventually, the silence becoming too much, "I would have if Stefan hadn't showed up and stopped me."

"She made it very clear that she forgives you, Elena," Elijah said quietly, sipping his drink again, "I know that means little when your emotions are as tumultuous as they are currently, but I hope it may bring you some comfort."

"I don't know how I can find comfort in anything with the things that I've done." Elena scoffed, shaking her head as she scooped the cream off the drink with a spoon, eating it before she would drink her chocolate.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes; Elena finished retrieving all the cream and marshmallows while Elijah finished his first mug of tea.

"What happened with my brother?" Elijah asked eventually, no longer content with dancing around why they were there.

Elena sighed, her shoulders deflating as she found herself faced with the consequences of what she and Jeremy had done months before. A sudden sense of conviction coming over her, she forced herself to sit up straighter, she couldn't live her life running and hiding from the consequences of the things she'd done, she was a big girl now, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to act like it.

"I assume you're familiar with The Five." Elena murmured, mixing her hot chocolate around for a moment, lightly tapping the spoon on the edge of the glass before setting it down on her plate, sighing when Elijah nodded. "When I killed one of them, Jeremy became the next member. We found out that the tattoos would lead to the cure for vampirism; Stefan and Damon thought it was the only way to fix me." She muttered, her voice turning into a sneer.

"Why did they believe you needed fixing?" Elijah asked softly; he could feel some regret stirring in him as he clearly caused the vampire in front of him pain, but he needed answers.

"Because I'm a vampire." Elena scoffed, shrugging like that explained it all. "That's all."

"That's ludicrous." Elijah bit, rage bubbling inside of him.

A soft laugh drew it's way from Elena again as she bobbed her head in agreement. "I guess it is." She shrugged, sipping at her drink and closing her eyes in ecstasy at the smooth taste. "To get the cure, we had to wake Silas; not that any of us really believed he existed, but Kol did. He compelled Damon to kill Jeremy so that he couldn't complete his mark, and when that didn't work, he tried to cut his arms off himself."

Elijah drew in a harsh breath, shaking his head slightly. "That does sound like my brother." He let the breath out in one exhale, composing himself easily. "You said Jeremy was the one to deliver the final blow?"

Elena nodded. "It released Damon from Kol's compulsion, he was no longer a threat to Jeremy, and…it completed Jeremy's mark."

"Through the sire lines." Elijah huffed, clenching his jaw and forcing himself to take a mouthful of tea. "Is that why you helped kill my brother? To complete the mark and find the cure?"

"No!" Elena protested, her eyes widening when Elijah features fell into a glare.

"You're lying to me." Elijah bit out before Elena could speak, his eyes narrowed. "Tell me the truth, Elena."

"I am!" Elena swore, shaking her head when Elijah's expression didn't change; she hadn't seen him this angry with her since the day after his family's ball. "Elijah, I'm not here to lie to you, I didn't want Kol dead to complete the mark, I swear."

A frown marred Elijah's features as he leant forward for a moment, studying her face, before sitting back in his seat and tilting his head at her curiously. "Interesting." He murmured, more to himself than anything else.

"What?" Elena asked quietly, her voice hitching slightly.

"Your heartbeat jumped when you denied that you killed Kol for the mark," Elijah explained, his tongue darting out to wet his lips, "the main indicator of a lie." He said when Elena only continued to look at him. "Yet, your heart did not jump when you said you didn't want to kill Kol for the mark."

"I don't understand." Elena admitted, shaking her head and biting her lip slightly. "What does that mean?"

Elijah pursed his lips, taking a sip of tea before he replied. "I'm not sure."

"I don't want to lie to you, Elijah." Elena said softly, looking down at the drink she held between her hands. "That's not why I'm here, we have a lot to work through, and there's no use in lying or hiding anymore."

Another sigh escaped Elijah as he considered Elena's words, whether she wanted to lie or not, she had, and he couldn't understand why.

"Compel me." Elena blurted, nearly covering her mouth in shock as the words fell from her mouth. Instead, she forced herself to keep her composure, not willing to break now. "I don't know why my heart jumped, I can't explain it, but if you compel me, then we can understand, we need to be honest with each other, now more than ever. I'm not on vervain at the moment, we can do it now."

"You trust me that much?"

"If we don't have trust, what do we have?"

They'd decided that retreating to somewhere more private was in order for the compulsion. Elijah needed a quiet place to ensure he could hear Elena's heart properly, and both of them were worried about what might come out of Elena's mouth under compulsion. In the end, they'd settled in Elena's hotel room, making her late check-out time worth the money.

She settled on the edge of the bed, wringing her hands together nervously as Elijah crouched in front of her.

"We don't have to do this, Elena," he said, for at least the tenth time since Elena had suggested it, "if you've changed your mind…"

"It's fine, Elijah." Elena assured him, smiling at him lightly. "I need to know why I lied as much as you do."

Elijah let out a soft sigh, nodding slightly and brushing Elena's hair behind her ears as his eyes bore into hers, his pupils dilating as he compelled her. "You will tell me the truth to any question I ask until I say otherwise."

Elena's pupils dilated as well, her face going blank as she repeated Elijah's words in a monotone voice.

Taking in a deep breath, Elijah schooled his features, sending an encouraging smile at the girl in front of him, who only tilted her head at him, waiting for him to start.

Upon entering the small room, Elijah had noticed a wooden chair sat in the corner, and he pulled it over to sit opposite Elena. He leant forward slightly, elbows on his knees as he held her wrist lightly in his hand, allowing him to feel her heartbeat as well as hear it.

"Did you kill Kol so that Jeremy's mark would be completed?"

"Yes." Elena murmured, her eyes widening in panicked surprise as the answer fell from her lips.

Elijah found his free hand gently rubbing the back of hers to try and calm her down. "Why?"

"Damon said it was the easiest way to make sure we could complete Jeremy's mark and find the cure; it was what he wanted."

"The sire bond pushed you into it." Elijah sighed, closing his eyes and shaking his head as he battled away the anger he felt at Damon's abuse of the bond he and Elena shared. "Did you plan to kill Kol that night?"

"Yes." Elena whispered, looking down at their hands rather than in Elijah's eyes anymore. "I called him; told him that we wanted a truce. Bonnie was supposed to immobilise him so Jeremy could kill him, but Bonnie couldn't come." She sighed, no longer answering because of Elijah's compulsion, explaining herself because she needed to. "Kol rejected the idea of a truce, he attacked both of us, and tried to take Jeremy's arms, I don't even know how we managed to overpower him." She muttered, looking up at Elijah through her eyelashes to try and gauge his reaction.

He was looking at her curiously; Elena would later reflect that there were few emotions she expected to see less than that.

"Kol always was remarkably adept at antagonising people." He murmured, a soft smile nudging his lips as he thought about his little brother.

A snort escaped Elena as she shook her head again. "That's a bit of an understatement."

Elijah laughed as well, aware of the hands he held and the lingering effect of his compulsion on Elena. "Are you afraid?" Elijah asked softly as the sound of Elena's racing heart assaulted his ears.

"Yes."

"Of me?" Elijah probed.

"No," she whispered, shaking her head slightly, "not of you."

Elijah tilted his head at her, conceding to the truth and willing to let her keep this one to herself, if that was what she wanted.

"Ask me." Elena breathed, her eyes meeting Elijah's with a determination she hadn't realised she held.

Raising an eyebrow, Elijah silently confirmed her wishes, letting out a soft breath when she nodded. "What are you afraid of?" He asked, squeezing her hand without conscious thought.

"Ligatus Animarum." She replied, not missing a beat between his question and the compulsion kicking in.

Elijah held back any facial expression, refusing to let his pain show on his face. He'd finally found out that Elena was the perfect match for him, and she was terrified of it. How was he supposed to deal with that?

"Why?" He murmured, barely keeping his voice from breaking.

"I thought it explained my feelings, but it doesn't." Elena dropped her eyes from his gaze, feeling her resolve faltering. "Davina told me that it doesn't create emotions."

"I don't understand." Elijah admitted, barely having time to notice that he'd moved from holding her wrist to holding her hand before she started talking.

"The conclusion to my life has felt so inevitable; I'd choose between Stefan and Damon and live the rest of my life with one of them, whether they managed to cure me or not. Everyone I know has seen that as a forgone ending, but when I'm around you, I feel like I have a choice in my life. I thought the bond had taken that away from me, but Davina denied that; everything I feel is my own, and it's terrifying." She rambled, pausing to take a deep breath and try and sort her racing thoughts.

"Because I'm not Stefan or Damon." Elijah sighed, moving to release Elena's hands and sit back, but she twisted them up and grabbed hold of his, desperate for him to stay.

"Not in the way that you think." She breathed, closing her eyes and wracking her brain for the right explanation, growing more frustrated with her inadequate eloquence. "I was trapped. Trapped between two brothers with no conceivable way out of it, and I began to accept that; I started coming to terms with the fact that I would only ever end up with one of them." She sighed when she saw the blank look on Elijah's face. "Like, Stockholm syndrome. I just got so used to the idea that it was okay, and now you're here, and the idea of leaving my prison is so terrifying, I don't know how to be free anymore, Elijah."

His heart broke at the pain hidden just behind the words she spoke, and before he was completely aware of his actions, he drew her into a tight hug, one of his hands finding its way into her hair and stroking it softly.

Elena took in a breath, hiccupping slightly as she fought with the tears trying to make themselves known.

"I'm so sorry, Elena." Elijah murmured, pulling away from her briefly to release her from his compulsion, taking a seat beside her on the bed and pulling her back into his arms in a swift movement, resting his chin on the crown of her head.

Chapter Text

Elijah let out a low breath, looking around the room in front of him. It was much more quaint than he would have ever chosen for himself. It only housed very basic furniture; a small double bed, and a matching wooden set, composed of a wardrobe, chest of drawers and a bedside table.

Having found her way to the hotel at short notice, very little of Elena's adorned the room, currently only a hairbrush laying on the table beside the bed. Pretty much everything else had been taken into the bathroom with Elena while she showered and cleaned herself up.

The sound of the shower switching off broke Elijah from his reverie and he cleared his throat slightly, slipping his hands into his pockets as he turned to the bathroom door, waiting for Elena to emerge.

A few more minutes passed before Elena came out of the bathroom, dressed in a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt, a towel held in her hand, squeezing the excess water from her hair. She smiled at Elijah as she stepped further into the room, wandering over to the bed and perching on the edge of it.

"You must be getting sick of me crying on you." Elena laughed, setting her towel aside and picking up the brush, gently starting to comb through the ends of her hair.

"Not at all." Elijah denied easily, sending a smile of his own to Elena when she looked at him. "It's rather humbling that you feel so comfortable in my presence."

Elena let out a soft laugh, shaking her head slightly, not really sure what to say to him. Instead, she continued to brush her hair out in silence as Elijah looked on.

Letting out a sigh, Elena began to slowly pull her hair into a braid, allowing the rhythm to relax her. "I don't know where we go from here, Elijah." She whispered, staring at the floor as she wove her hair together. "I can barely cope with my emotions, let alone figure out what we do."

"Elena," Elijah said softly, pulling up his trousers slightly as he crouched in front of her, "we don't have to do anything if you don't want to. Ligatus Animarum doesn't mean that we have to immediately fall into a perfect relationship, in fact, I would dare argue that we don't have to do that at all if it's not what you want."

"I don't know what I want." Elena whispered, tying off the end of her braid as Elijah put a finger under his chin to lift her gaze to meet his again.

Elijah lips quirked into a soft smile, his hand moving to her cheek. "How about, we agree to just be friends for now? You can get a handle on your emotions, and deal with anything else you need to; I will be here to help you, however you need, and we can revisit this bond at a later time."

Rather than saying anything, Elena leant forward, flinging her arms around his neck and hugging him gratefully. Elijah only hesitated for a brief second, surprised, before he hugged her back, squeezing her firmly before pulling away again.

"Now, we need to find you somewhere more suitable to stay."

"I mean, seriously, what the hell were you thinking? Provoking a vampire who's only just got her emotions back? You're lucky that you managed to wake me up!" Klaus shouted, turning to his sister for help when Hayley only glared back at him.

"Nik has a penchant for being rather dramatic, but he is right in this instance." Rebekah sighed, shrugging when Hayley turned to her, clearly having expected Rebekah to side with her. "Baby vampires are volatile at the best of times, a week after regaining their emotions is definitely not the time to pick a fight. You're alone on this one."

Hayley scoffed. "Of course I am, everyone in this family is as hooked by the precious doppelganger as all of her stupid friends."

"Neither of us said anything remotely like that." Rebekah rolled her eyes. "We are no fan of Elena's, but our personal feelings have nothing to do with the bloody foolishness of your actions last night."

"You and Elena have seemed plenty chummy lately." Hayley bit back, folding her arms across her chest in defiance.

Rebekah huffed, she and Klaus exchanging irritated glances; Hayley really needed to learn some sort of preservation instincts if she was going to make it in New Orleans. "She was amusing without emotions, that's all, and is also, irrelevant."

The sound of the front door opening captured the attention of the three members of the room, all of them turning to look in the direction of the noise; Rebekah and Klaus confused when a blur passed through the hallway. Elijah stepped into the lounge, sparing half a glance in the direction of the movement before turning to look at his siblings and Hayley.

"Elena is packing." He explained at Rebekah and Klaus's identical raised eyebrows. "She will be staying somewhere else for the duration of her time in New Orleans."

Brother and sister nodded at Elijah's words; Hayley only rolled her eyes, increasingly irritated by Elijah's obvious infatuation with the doppelganger.

"Was there something you wanted to say, Hayley?" Elijah asked, obviously not missing her slight movement.

She scoffed. "Nothing at all, I just hope you know what you're doing."

Elijah didn't have a chance to talk before Elena appeared behind him, suitcase and duffel bag in hand. She paused, confused by the atmosphere in the room in front of her.

"Is everything okay?" After Hayley's behaviour the previous night, she didn't trust the look on the wolf's face, especially with the tension set in Elijah's stance.

"Yes, Elena, everything's fine." Elijah turned to her, smiling to reassure her, and reaching out to take her bag from her. "We should get going."

Elena smiled back at him, nodding to Klaus and Rebekah when she met their eyes, ignoring the wolf in the room completely as she turned and left with Elijah.

"Are you sure?" Elena asked for the umpteenth time. "I really don't want to take your place from you."

"Elena, please." Elijah smiled, placing the keys to the condo in Elena's hand and curling her fingers around them. "I'm making no use of this place, someone should."

Letting out a soft sigh, Elena smiled at him, shaking her head softly as she accepted the offered keys, turning to take another look around her new temporary home. Her gaze focussed on the large, grey sofa in the centre of the lounge, and she found herself unable to tear her eyes away, longing to sink her aching body into the cushions.

Elijah said nothing as she took in the minimalist condo around her. Having never spent much time in his property on the outskirts of New Orleans, he'd never bought more for the house than the basics, perhaps Elena could change that, he had no doubt he'd let her do almost anything she wanted to the place.

"If you would like, I can show you around," Elijah offered, breaking into Elena's reverie, "then I shall leave you to settle in."

Elena smiled, shrugging her duffel bag off of her shoulder and nodding slightly. "That'd be nice."

Smiling at her in return, Elijah lifted the suitcase by his feet, showing Elena the way to the bedroom, pointing out the bathroom and a small office along the way.

"I assure you, it is as comfortable as it looks." Elijah said softly, smiling at Elena as she stared at the king bed in awe.

Elena let out a soft laugh, shaking her head as she walked further into the bedroom, stunned by the sheer size and quality of the furniture adorning the room. Now she felt even more horrendous about taking Elijah's space away from him.

"Elijah-"

"You've already got the keys, Elena." Elijah shrugged, smiling at her when she spun to face him. "I believe the phrase I'm looking for is 'no take backs'."

Elena let out a startled laugh at that, not sure how Elijah was still able to surprise her so much. "I was only going to ask if there's a good place to go grocery shopping near here."

Dragging the charm of her pendant back and forth on the chain around her neck, Elena let out a long breath, absently stirring sugar into her coffee with her other hand.

Regaining her emotions had taken a huge toll on her, physically as well as mentally. Her entire body felt like she'd been hit by a semi, and possibly backed over again, and she let out a soft groan as she rolled her neck to the side, sighing in relief when it clicked.

"Fancy seeing you here."

Elena's body stiffened at the voice, her hand tightening on the pendant around her neck for a moment before relaxing again, calming her gaze as Damon slid into the seat across from her.

"I guess barbie wasn't lying when she said you had your emotions back, Stefan and I weren't worth the call?"

Elena sighed, dropping her necklace and cradling her coffee mug with both hands. "I haven't spoken to anyone, Damon, but Elijah told me you and Stefan tried to force your way in."

"We shouldn't've had to!" Damon snapped, his eyes narrowed as he glared at Elena. "We should have been the first people you called; I should have been!"

"I am sorry about that, Damon," Elena sighed, taking a sip of her coffee, "things have changed now, I needed some time."

Damon scoffed, shaking his head with a derisive roll of his eyes. "You can't be serious. What's next? 'It's not you, it's me'?"

"That's not what any of this is, Damon." Elena muttered, lifting her coffee to take another sip. "Things aren't what they were before I turned my emotions off, and they can't go back to how they were; they never should have gotten there to begin with."

"So, what? You want to stay shacked up with the Originals? That's not what I want, Elena."

Elena let out a soft sigh, her body sagging in relief when she didn't feel any outside influence taking effect on her. "The sire bond is gone, Damon." She murmured, not missing the slight pursing of his lips and narrowing of his eyes. "That just proves what I realised while my emotions were off. You're not a good person, Damon, not in the ways I thought you were."

"Has he compelled you?" Damon asked, his brow furrowed as he looked at Elena. "Elijah? Or was it Klaus? This is exactly the sort of thing he'd love to stir up."

"I'm not compelled, Damon." Elena muttered, rolling her eyes with a huff of breath. "You can't jump to that as a defence every time we have a disagreement."

"This isn't a disagreement, Elena, you sound crazy." He bit, glaring at Elena, grabbing her wrist when she tried to get up and walk away. "Don't you dare walk away from me."

"Let go of me, Damon." Elena hissed, proud that no tremor seeped into her voice, nothing exposing the stress she felt at that moment.

He scoffed. "You're coming back to Mystic Falls, Elena. Now."

"No."

"You heard the lady."

An unmistakable sigh of relief fell from Elena's lips as a new voice joined the fray, causing Damon's features to harden even more.

"What the hell are you gonna do about it?" Damon scoffed, standing from the table and pulling Elena closer to him by the arm he still held.

"I have decades on you, and the training of Klaus and Elijah on my side, this isn't a fight you'll win, Salvatore."

Elena yanked her arm from Damon's grip, catching him, and herself, off guard when she slipped from his grasp, falling forward into Marcel's arms; the pair of them disappearing from the café in a second.

"Thanks for the save back there." Elena murmured, rubbing her upper arm where Damon had grabbed her. "I should have expected him to be more volatile, I wasn't even planning on talking to him in person."

"He's a jackass." Marcel shrugged, raising an eyebrow at Elena when she turned to face him. "D told me that you came to see her yesterday, how are you coping?"

Elena let out a soft sigh, bringing her other hand up to her upper arm, crossing her arms over her chest lightly. "I don't really know." She admitted with a soft laugh. "Hayley and I had a bit of a blow up a few nights ago, I moved out of the plantation the next day. I'm not sure if I'm glad to be alone or if I want company."

"Where are you staying?" Marcel asked, tilting his head curiously. "You know the Abattoir is available."

Smiling, Elena let out a breathy laugh. "Elijah's letting me use a condo he has just on the edge of the city. It's a little secluded, but it's nice and private for a change." She chewed on her bottom lip, releasing another sigh. "Plus, Stefan and Damon don't know where I am, and Elijah's the only one who knows and he definitely won't tell them."

"He cares about you a lot." Marcel said softly, smiling at her.

Another soft huff of laughter escaped Elena as she shook her head slightly. "I keep hearing that lately."

Marcel frowned. "I would have thought you'd be happier to have someone care so much."

"I don't know how I feel about much at all." Elena scoffed, hugging her arms closer to her chest. "Everything in my head is so jumbled, and with this bond with Elijah, I can't seem to figure out what is and isn't real." Her eyes flitted around the streets, absently watching as cars and pedestrians passed them by. "Davina told me that the bond doesn't create emotions, that everything is our own, I just don't understand it."

"It sounds like you're overthinking it." Marcel said, raising an eyebrow. "From where I stand, Ligatus Animarum sounds like something most people would kill for."

"I guess I've just got a lot going on, and this kind of has me teetering on the edge."

"You shouldn't be afraid of it, Elena, but you also shouldn't be afraid of taking time to figure things out. We have forever after all."

Chapter Text

Elijah was an ass.

Elena huffed, getting more and more fed up by the minute. This was all his fault.

He just had to take her to Café Mondeaux, and he just had to make her try the beignets.

She was addicted to the damn things. And it was all Elijah's fault.

"Here you go, sweetheart." Maria smiled, placing a cup of coffee down in front of her.

"Thanks." Elena smiled, taking the drink gratefully.

Damnit, she was on a first name basis with most of the staff. She was definitely spending too much time there.

Stirring sugar into her coffee, she sighed, she was burning through money coming to this café every day. It was just so addicting, between the beignets and the coffee she was beat.

Before she'd realised, she'd finished her coffee, and she gestured to Maria for another drink, the blonde now common with her order. A few minutes later, a new girl brought her drink over, cautiously placing it on the table with a lack of grace that only a teenager at a new job could achieve.

Elena smiled at her warmly, thanking her for the drink and asking if she was new here.

"Yeah, it's my first day." The girl murmured, fingering her apron nervously. "Is it that obvious?"

Elena laughed. "I've just gotten to know everyone in here in the last few days, don't worry. You seem like you're doing a good job today, keep at it."

She smiled nervously, thanking Elena and wandering off back to the bar, nodding when Maria gave her another instruction.

Following a familiar ritual, Elena gently stirred sugar into her drink, checking her phone when it pinged in her pocket, nibbling her lip when she saw a message from Caroline.

Elena had been living in Elijah's condo for a couple of days, and she'd still not spoken to Caroline or Bonnie, and she hadn't seen Damon since the day Marcel had saved her ass. Stefan hadn't reached out yet, leaving her to her own devices, which Elena was glad for.

For the first time in just over a month, maybe longer, she wasn't really sure, Elena replied to the text from Caroline, relenting to meeting her best friends. After all, she couldn't put it off forever.

"Elijah said that you're not living at the plantation house anymore," Caroline broached, breaking the uneasy silence that had settled over the three, "he didn't say what happened, but the tension in that house is palpable."

"I just couldn't stay there anymore." Elena dismissed with a soft shrug. "It was one thing when I didn't have my emotions but…" She trailed off, shrugging again.

Caroline offered a sympathetic smile, glancing at Bonnie when the witch continued to say nothing. "We just wanted to see how you were doing. I know things have been crazy; we're all just worried about you."

"Damon tried to drag me back to Mystic Falls a few days ago." Elena muttered, more bitter than she intended, softening when she saw the stunned looks on her friend's faces.

"We had no idea." Caroline assured her quickly, hesitating before reaching out to cover Elena's hand with her own. "He's been sulking for a couple of days, but we just assumed it was because you weren't talking to any of us."

Elena let out a soft sigh, taking her hand from under Caroline's and taking a sip of water. "He's an ass." She muttered, shaking her head slightly when she saw the confused expressions on their faces. "A lack of emotions made me see a lot of things much more clearly than I ever have," she explained softly, "Damon's not a good person."

"Wow." Bonnie breathed, finally breaking her silence. "I didn't think you'd ever come to that conclusion."

Shrugging slightly, Elena noted somewhere in the back of her mind that she was getting sick of the indecisiveness of such an action all the time. "You really can't understand what feeling nothing is like unless you've done it," she sighed, "there's so much clarity about things that were too personal before…but that's not to say I always acted rationally." She tacked on after a moment, remembering what she'd done to Caroline. "Care, I'm so sorry, it was nothing more than a temper tantrum, but that doesn't make it any better; all I can do is apologise."

Caroline smiled at her friend, shaking her head in a small movement. "Elijah should have already given you my response, but it's okay, Lena, I can't say I understand, but you weren't yourself, and I won't hold it against you."

Elena smiled, letting out a soft breath as more tension than she'd realised she held leached from her body. "You're a really good person, Care."

Caroline smiled back at her friend, both of them letting out a sigh of relief in tandem, neither of them oblivious to a similar reaction coming from Bonnie, and all of them glad that the largest source of tension in their group had been dealt with.

"Now that's sorted," Caroline grinned, tossing her hair over her shoulder and leaning closer to Elena, "what is going on with you and Elijah?"

Elena laughed, rolling her eyes slightly as Caroline immediately settled into her usual gossip mode. "Nothing is going on with us, he's letting me stay at his place while I sort myself out, we're just friends, that's all."

"Just friends who give up their houses for each other and have bound souls." Bonnie muttered, raising an eyebrow at Elena, who grimaced when Caroline followed suit.

"It's not like that." Elena sighed. "He's just being a good friend, we've agreed on that, and he's more than happy to step back and just be whatever I need for now."

Caroline let out a low whistle, nodding in appreciation. "He sounds kind of like exactly what you need, Stefan and Damon sure as hell wouldn't let you off if they found out about something like what you two just have."

"That's so not the point, Caroline." Elena rolled her eyes, laughing softly at her friend. "Elijah's just…old school like that. We trust each other, and that's enough."

"For how long?" Caroline probed. "You're soulmates, Elena."

Elena sighed, taking a long swig of water. "Not really, our souls are bonded, it doesn't mean we have to be involved romantically, not if we don't want to, I guess." She finished lamely, not at all oblivious to the looks she was getting from Bonnie and Caroline. "I just have a lot to try and deal with, guys, and I don't know where Elijah fits into any of this yet."

"Elena-"

She held up a hand to stop Caroline. "He's willing to give me time, and that's what I need right now, from all of you."

Caroline released a soft sigh, nodding her assent.

Bonnie nodded in a similar fashion, smiling slightly. "I know we pressed you a lot to turn your emotions back on," she started softly, "I guess we trusted Stefan and Damon to know the best way to deal with the switch; not the smartest decision we ever made."

Elena laughed softly. "I think that's probably an understatement."

"This place looks pretty weird in the daylight." Elena remarked, ignoring Marcel's soft laugh as she looked around the old stone architecture of the Abattoir's courtyard.

"Not many people are privy to visiting during the day." Marcel shrugged. "I tend to keep this place pretty private outside of the raging parties."

Elena laughed, settling into one of the chairs as Davina bounded through the doors.

"You look better." Davina grinned, sitting in the chair beside Elena's. "How's Elijah's place?"

Shrugging slightly, Elena accepted a mug of blood from Marcel. "Way more expensive than I could ever afford." She scoffed. "I'm constantly scared of breaking anything, god knows how old any of it is."

"It's probably best you try and keep everything intact." Marcel hinted softly, winking at Elena as he sat opposite her.

Elena let out a groan, rubbing her brow and taking a gulp of blood. "It's nice having space though, especially from the craziness of that family, and Klaus's knocked up were-bitch."

Davina choked back a laugh, exchanging an amused glance with Marcel, who was holding back laughter too.

"I don't understand what the Originals see in her." Elena muttered, rolling her eyes. "She's catty, cruel, manipulative, spiteful…" She trailed off, huffing. "She's just so awful."

"Clearly." Marcel smiled, raising an eyebrow at Elena. "I'm sure that's all it is."

Elena frowned, a flash of indignation lighting her face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"She obviously has a thing for Elijah…" Marcel alluded, trailing off as he allowed the implication to become obvious to Elena.

After a moment of silence, Elena scoffed, shaking her head. "I am not jealous." She said firmly, frowning when Davina and Marcel exchanged glances. "I'm not! We're not even together; there's nothing to be jealous of!"

"You're not at all upset that Hayley might be after your man?"

Elena scoffed at Marcel's words, rolling her eyes. "That's not what's happening." She huffed. "Elijah and I aren't even…we're not in that place."

"He's in that place." Davina murmured, raising an eyebrow slightly. "He's so enamoured with you it's crazy."

"I'm not in any sort of place to be with him at the moment, or anyone really for that matter." The faces of her newfound friends softening at her words. "I've got enough to deal with, especially with Jer, I can't be what Elijah needs right now; I have to focus on Jeremy."

"Don't let yourself get too caught up in your grief, Elena." Davina reminded softly, tilting her head at Elena as she seemed to drift off into her own world. "It's important to grieve, but don't let it control you."

Elena smiled, shrugging slightly. "I've got enough experience with grief to last Elijah's lifetime, I don't think he needs to deal with it as well as me."

"Elijah is well-known as a noble man." Davina let out a soft breath, turning to Marcel, who nodded in agreement. "He'll stick by you, especially with how he feels about you."

"Elena," Marcel interrupted, drawing her attention in his direction, "you know I don't have a good history with the Mikaelson's, and I'm not fond of any of them, but D's right, Elijah puts his family above all, and the way he looks at you; you're family, El, he'd go to the ends of the world for you."

Elena let out a long sigh, rubbing her brow with one hand as she reached up to grab a glass from the cupboard with her other. Having her emotions back on was really taking it out of her; she was so exhausted. She had half a mind to ask Elijah if it was normal, but she really needed to deal with her own problems for once; it wasn't fair to keep getting him involved.

Sighing again, she shut the cupboard, turning to the sink to fill her glass with water, confused when she was faced with a pile of shattered glass at her feet.

Bewildered, Elena looked between the broken glass on the floor and her empty hand. How the hell had that happened? Dropping a glass so should not have been possible with her reflexes, not to mention the fact that she hadn't even noticed it falling from her hand.

Even as she thought about it, she could swear the room was spinning around her. She felt like a spinning top; thrown down against her will to spin and spin until she toppled over or someone stopped her.

Desperately, she grasped at the counter to try and keep her balance, closing her eyes for a moment before realising it only made the spinning worse, and opening them again.

Something wasn't right.

She needed to call...someone.

Picking up her phone, she hurriedly dialled, forever thankful for speed dial as she pressed number one. She stood, holding the side, waiting until they answered with her name, a soft question that confirmed they were there.

"Mom, can you come pick me up?" She muttered, releasing the counter, and stumbling forward a few paces to look out the window, the shame on her face reflected back at her. "Matty and I got in a fight."

"What's going on, Elena?" Her mom asked, worry clouding her voice; Elena easily able to picture the look of irate concern she was sure would be on her mother's face. "Where are you?"

"I snuck out to the party." She admitted softly, fiddling with her hair. "I'm sorry, I know you said I couldn't go."

"It's alright, where are you?"

"I'm..." Elena trailed off, looking around herself as she realised then that she had no idea where she was, or even really what was going on anymore. She'd been at a party in the woods with Matt, so why was she in an apartment now? "I don't-"

Eyes rolling into the back of her head, the phone fell from Elena's hand as she collapsed into a heap on the floor, the soft sounds of her name being called fading into the background as her eyelids fluttered closed.