There was an aching in her head. Throbbing. All around her was silent. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, her brain not communicating with the rest of her body. She could feel the warmth of the sunlight on her face. Her nose twitched as a strong smell assaulted her nose. What was that? It was nice. Musky and familiar. Comforting.
The ground she was on was hard. She moved her arms. Wait. This isn't the floor. It was a person. Slowly, she opened her eyes. The light was bright and punishing. She barely caught a glimpse of the books adorning the wall before her attention shifted to the body she was somehow laying on top of.
Her eyes drifted up the shirt clad torso, the tie looked expensive. It was a man. Slowly, her eyes reached his face. His jaw was strong and square, nose straight and his skin was pale and perfect. She gasped at how handsome this man was. She wondered if his eyes were as beautiful as the rest of him.
His eyebrows furrowed and his eyelashes started fluttering. The hand on her waist, which she hadn't even noticed, tightened as the man began to wake up. His eyes opened. They were deep and brown as they took in the world around them. They landed on the girl he held close to him.
They studied each other for a moment.
"Hello, there." The man spoke. His voice was rich and smooth. His accent only adding to his allure.
"Hi." She squeaked shyly, realising she was still on top of him and his hand was still on her waist.
"Who are you?" He asked curiously.
She opened her mouth to answer when she realised. She had no idea who she was.
"I don't know…" She replied brows together in confusion.
"I don't seem to remember who I am, either." He said. He looked at their intimate position and his lips parted the tiniest amount. She blushed as she removed herself from his body.
He rearranged himself so they were now sat face to face.
"Do you remember anything?" She asked him. "Does this place look familiar to you?"
He looked around.
"No. Nothing, I'm afraid." He replied.
They stared at each other for a few minutes. Attempting to recall the slightest bit of recognition in the stranger sat across from themselves.
Their heads snapped as they heard a groaning sound come from beyond a large sofa they were hidden behind. Slowly, they stood up and found seven bodies spread out around the large room, all seemingly waking up.
The man pushed the women who he had woken up with behind him slightly. Not knowing if these people were friends or foe. They all looked around, assessing the strange place they had woken up in.
"Who are you people?" A man with blue eyes asked, with an accent similar to his own.
"Who are you?" A young lady with blonde hair and blue-green eyes shot back at him.
"I asked you first." He replied.
"Well, I don't know who I am. So, tell me who you are and what I'm doing here." She demanded.
"I don't know who I am either." Another lady with blonde hair spoke up, her accent once again sounding like the two men.
They all looked to each other, all agreeing that no one had any clue about who they were.
"How did we all just lose our memories?" A dark-skinned woman asked.
"I haven't the faintest idea, love." A man with a familiar accent and dark hair retorted, offering the woman a cheeky smile. She blushed and looked away.
A man with raven hair and blue eyes pulled something from his pocket.
"Damon Salvatore." He announced. "At least that's what this plastic card says." He held it so everyone could see.
Everyone began to check their pockets.
"Caroline Forbes, Mystic Falls resident." The blonde announced.
"Bonnie Bennett, 18 years old." The green-eyed woman smiled.
"Stefan Salvatore." A man across the room announced.
"Brother." Damon seemed happy to have a member of his family here.
"How do you know you are brothers?" Caroline asked.
"Well, we're not sisters." Damon rolled his eyes.
"Niklaus Mikaelson." The accented man said.
"Hey I'm a Mikaelson too. Kol." He smiled.
"Rebekah Mikaelson." The blonde girl introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you, sister." Kol smirked.
"Elijah Mikaelson." They turned in his direction.
"Another Mikaelson?" Bonnie asked.
"There sure are a lot of us." Rebekah agreed
"What about you, love?" Kol asked the woman standing behind Elijah. "You're not a Mikaelson are you?"
She blushed.
"No. My name's Elena Gilbert." She revealed.
"Elena." Elijah said tasting the name on his tongue.
"Elijah." She replied, her lips quirking upwards.
Everyone else either smiled or averted their gaze at the sweet exchange. Except Damon.
"Well, hi there." He said as he swaggered over, a dark gaze in his eyes. Elena panicked.
Elijah pushed her behind himself again and sized up the man who had a predatory appearance.
"I was just saying hello." Damon explained. Elena peeked over Elijah's shoulder. "Why don't you come out and say hi, beautiful." Elena's form shrunk as he smirked at her.
"I don't think she wants to." Elijah defended her.
"Why don't you let her speak for herself?" Damon shot back.
"Leave her alone." Caroline said.
"You're scaring her." Bonnie agreed.
"Yeah, bugger off, wanker." Rebekah chided.
Damon raised his hands in defeat. "Fine, fine." He said as he walked back over to stand near his brother.
Elijah turned to face Elena.
"Are you okay?" He asked her softly.
She nodded and smiled at the girls who came to her defence. Maybe they were friends.
"I'm fine, thank you." She replied in a small voice as she played with the hem of her t-shirt.
Stefan had been looking over some papers that lay on the table in front of him.
"Well, it looks like you guys, the Mikaelson's, own this place." He shows them bills for furniture and renovations in Klaus's name, and letters addressed to Elijah.
Kol and Rebekah looked happy with that revelation. The house was huge and beautiful. At least they knew they weren't homeless.
"What do we do now?" Klaus asked. "We can't just sit around all day until we remember who we are."
"There should be something here that can help us remember." Stefan added.
"Well, let us explore then!" Kol clapped his hands.
"Wait." Rebekah stopped them. "We shouldn't all split off, just in case someone gets into trouble." She explained.
"Right you are, sister." Kol agreed. "I'll take, Bonnie!" He smiled as he took her hand.
"Caroline, you're with me." Klaus smirked at her. She rolled her eyes but didn't argue.
"Well, I guess I'm with you two then." She pointed to the Salvatore's. "Since you two obviously aren't going to leave each other." Motioning to Elena and Elijah.
Everyone left the room.
"Shall we?" Elijah asked, offering his arm.
Elena took it. "Let's go."
They joined the others as they all climbed the stairs. One by one they opened doors.
"This must be my room." Kol announced.
"How can you tell?" Bonnie questioned.
"Look at all the cool stuff in here." He pointed to the large TV, games console and other cool gadgets.
"Do you even know what that stuff does?" Klaus asked.
"No, but it looks expensive." Kol grinned as he went to check out his room, Bonnie following him.
"Hello, handsome." He murmured to himself as he winked at his reflection in the large mirror on the wall.
The others rolled their eyes as they carried on down the hall.
Another door opened, revealing lots of art supplies and canvases. Most of them holding pictures of Caroline.
"Well, I guess we know who's room this is." Rebekah said as she crossed her arms and left, hoping to find her own room.
Klaus walked in and appraised his surroundings.
"I seem to paint you a lot, Caroline." He looked at the complete works on the wall and the half finished one on his easel.
"Creepy." She replied quietly, whilst silently admiring the quality of his paintings. He was very talented. And apparently obsessed with her. Caroline felt wary but also a little flattered.
"Okay, now this is my room." Rebekah smiled as she took in the luxurious materials, beautiful clothes and long windows that led to a balcony.
"Wow." Elena gasped as she looked around the large room.
"Who needs this many shoes?" Damon asked as he shook his head. Stefan looked perplexed.
"Let's leave them, shall we?" Elijah said as he tugged Elena out of the room.
He opened a door further down the corridor, away from all of his siblings' rooms.
Elena gasped as she entered the room. His bed was golden and silky, art and books covered the walls and there was a raised platform at the back of the room that led into an office of some sort. She looked to Elijah as he assessed the room. She knows she should be careful wandering around a mansion with people she didn't know, when she didn't even know herself, but she felt safe around Elijah. She felt like she could trust him. She had woken up on top of him, they must have trusted each other before they lost their memories to wake up in such a warm embrace.
"This is a nice room." Elena commented.
"Yes," Elijah agreed. "I find myself quite drawn to it." He said as he turned to look at her.
Elena blushed at his intense stare, wondering how he caused such a reaction in her.
"I don't think anything in here is going to help." He walked closer to her. "Why don't we go back downstairs." He tucked her hair behind her ear.
Elena stared at him as her skin felt like it was on fire.
"Elena?" He asked gently.
"Yes, of course." She agreed, quickly walking out the door.
Elijah smirked as he followed her, he hadn't missed her reaction to their close proximity. He had to admit she was absolutely gorgeous, he had been captivated by her from the moment he woke up and saw her stunning brown eyes staring back at him.
He closed the door and trailed her steps noticing the others had the same idea as him and were now heading down to the living room, where they had all woken up.
"Anyone find out anything?" Klaus asked.
"I'm devastatingly gorgeous." Kol supplied.
"Must run in the family." Stefan said under his breath as Rebekah looked at him shyly.
"Anyone find anything useful?" Klaus reiterated.
"Nope." Kol said popping the 'p'.
Klaus rolled his eyes and groaned. "Well, that's just brilliant."
"I don't think we're going to find answers here." Elijah said. "Obviously, what happened…"
Elena tuned out as she watched his jaw work and tongue dart out to wet his lips. He used his hands to gesture when he spoke. His jaw tensed, presumably when someone said something he didn't agree with.
"Earth to Elena?" Rebekah called as she came out of her trance like state. "Hello?"
"Oh, sorry. I was just…thinking." Elena turned towards the group.
"Does my brother's face provide a lot of discerning material?" Rebekah smirked as others tried to hide their laughter. Elena blushed in embarrassment as Elijah raised an eyebrow at his sister.
"Yes, yes. Elena's in love with Elijah. Can we get back on topic now?" Klaus was growing tired of not remembering anything.
Elena stiffened at Klaus's comment.
"Niklaus." Elijah reprimanded.
"What?" He asked innocently.
"Leave them be." Caroline nudged him. "It's cute."
Elena tried to slyly look at Elijah. What if the Elena who had her memories was in love with him. Did he love her to?
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled slightly.
"It's almost dark." Stefan commented.
"Yeah, and the rest of us don't know where we live." Bonnie added.
"Well, you can all stay here tonight, we have plenty of room." Rebekah told them. "We should get some sleep and start fresh in the morning. Maybe we'll have more luck then."
They were each shown to a guest room. Elena's being closest to Elijah's and the furthest away from Damon's. Elijah didn't trust him after the way he looked at Elena earlier. Even if he didn't know who they were to each other, he wanted to protect her.
"Goodnight, Elijah." Elena said yawning.
"Here." he handed her one of his t-shirts. "To sleep in since you don't have any clothes here."
"Thank you." She looked at him with doe eyes.
"Goodnight, lovely Elena." He leaned in and sweetly kissed her cheek.
She watched him walk back to his room for a second before she closed her door and discarded her clothes. The shirt stopped mid-thigh but it was soft and warm. She brought the collar to her nose and inhaled. It smelled like him. She climbed into the bed and settled under the warm covers. Maybe more would be revealed tomorrow.