1492 - Day before the Sacrifice

Elena started to slowly wake from her slumber, her eyes opened and a small sigh escaped her lips, for many reasons, 1; she was still in the past and 2; tonight was the sacrifice, she had every right to be completely concerned, would they be able to go through with their plan and actually succeed? She hoped so.

She stepped out of the bed and walked out of her bedroom, still in the clothes she wore yesterday, if only her wardrobe had been transported with her. She entered the living room of the small cottage, where she saw Elijah, standing in front of the window, even in the future he did that a lot. Oddly enough, she liked watching him.

"Good morning, Elena." Of course he detected her, so much for the element of surprise. "Good morning." She had to remember that coffee didn't exist in this time era. Bummer. She stood beside him, gazing out of the window, the field looked beautiful in the morning, the birds chased each other in the sky, it was a sight for sore eyes, she enjoyed it.

And she finally understood why Elijah enjoyed it so much. For the beauty of the natural world.

"Today should be fun." She spoke sarcastically. "You have a strange definition of fun." She smirked slightly, slightly surprised he hadn't noted the sarcasm in her tone of voice. "Right." She only snickered.

"You're scared." He spoke so bluntly, his gaze finally shifting to her, he returned his stare. "No. Worried." She clarified, fear and concern may appear to be the same but they were so different.

"About?" He asked, his eyes still remained fixated on her but she diverted her gaze to the window once again, avoiding all eye contact whilst she spoke her inner emotion. "A lot of things, it's what humans do, what if something goes wrong? What if Klaus finds out about this? About me? I can only imagine what he'd do to you... And me. It's very worrying." She elucidated.

He understood, he felt it too, but he dare not show it.

"Don't worry yourself so much, lovely Elena, everything will go according to plan, the world will finally be rid of him." He sounded optimistic, and Elena couldn't detect anything less but deep inside, he was screaming. Screaming for salvation and redemption. "How can you be so sure?" She turned to look at him finally, finding his eyes too unbearable to stare into. But she did it anyway.

"Because I'll protect you."

She felt his hand on her waist, without a second to process, he had pulled her body into his, and before she had the chance to protest, he pressed his lips on her. Now that was a surprise she hadn't anticipated but she liked it. She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning more into the kiss.

After a long moment, he pulled back slightly and took a deep breath, his arms still remained wrapped around her waist. "I'm sorry." He muttered silently under his breath, Elena smiled at the apology he didn't need to give. Made him that much more a gentleman. "Don't be."

A knock at the door interrupted them, Elijah pursed his lips together and reluctantly released her from his arms, as he walked towards the door, Elena hid behind the couch, keeping herself unseen until the moment was right. If there would ever be a right moment for the future doppelganger to be seen. She heard the fly open.

"Katerina?" She heard Elijah call out. "Oh fuck." She muttered under her breath immediately after.

"I apologize for the intrusion, My Lord, I hoped to spend the day with you." She sounded so innocent, so pure but Elena knew the truth, only Elena bared her burden for future bloodshed. "I'm deeply sorry, Katerina but this isn't the best of times" He admitted so clearly.

"Of course, you must have preparations to do."

What?

Elijah's lips parted slightly. "What preparations do you speak of?" Katherine tilted her head slightly. "For the ritual tonight, Klaus was very vague when he spoke of it, but he said you would be busy today, after I asked about you."

He froze, what was Klaus thinking when he spilled the secrets of the sacrifice. "No preparations to be made. I'd love to spend the day with you. Come." Elijah turned back to look inside the cottage, Elena peered her head over the back of couch, and both of their eyes widened, before he exited the small cottage.

Elena crawled towards the window and sat under it, in case Katherine looked back.

-w-

Elijah finally returned the cottage just before nightfall, completely shocked and angered, Elena stood up from the couch - where she had sat most of the day - and walked towards him. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"She escaped. Katerina escaped." She noted the anger in his voice. "Well, that wasn't a part of the plan." She cocked her head to the side, Elijah gave her a skeptic look, her comment may have been slightly witty but it was still true nonetheless. "We have to find her." Elena spoke yet another obvious fact.

Elena placed her hand on his cheek and he started to relax slightly. The mere touch of her hand made his skin tingle. What was she doing to him? "Let's go." He spoke, much calmer than earlier, she nodded her head once. "Be careful." She said in hushed tones. "And you too. I don't want to find out you've been hurt."

With that, they both exited the cottage, running in different directions, he was reluctant about separating but they would cover more ground if they did.

Elena ran like she'd never ran before, Katherine was a crucial part of the plan, without her... Well, there would be no plan. She entered the woods, the darkness spread around her, there was barely any light, she dodged any obstacles she came to in her tracks, but that didn't stop the occasional twig from scratching her arms, short sleeved t-shirt wasn't the best of ideas when she got changed yesterday morning... 500 from now. Confusion, much?

She finally saw her, Katherine was running away from the men who were chasing her, Elena felt relieved when she saw her, she thought her lungs where going to ignite. "No.." she muttered under her breath when she saw the cottage Elijah spoke of in his story, the cottage where Rose was staying.

Elena picked up her pace, she finally intercepted Katherine, she held her arms out, in order to stop her. And she did but she didn't like the idea of seeing her exact duplicate. "What is this?" Katherine exclaimed.

"Let me explain elsewhere, Kath... Katerina, I want to help, you have to trust me. This way." She extended her arm out, Katherine looked back, seeing flames near her, she turned back to face Elena, and took her hand, both running off together.

"What are we doing here? You cannot take me in that house." Katerina spoke roughly, when she saw Elijah's cottage, she stopped running, pulling Elena back with her, she felt like her arm had just been pulled from her shoulder. "We have too, trust me, he won't hurt you."

Katerina reluctantly followed her, Elena still holding her hand, as they neared the small cottage, Elena immediately opened the door and closed it behind Katherine, they both took a long minute to regain their breath, inhaling the air desperately. "Now, tell me, who are you?"

"I'm Elena, I'm from the future." That didn't sound any less weird than the first time. "I'm your future doppelganger, we will meet one day, 500 years from now, but tonight is important..." She heard the door open, they both turned to look at the entrance and then entered Elijah.

"Elena, Katerina." He spoke as he walked towards them both, his arms immediately wrapping around Elena, holding her in a tight and loving embrace. "I'm happy to see you're okay." He admitted, not caring for the emotion that he shown, Katerina merely smiled at the love that was shared between them. When they finally released each other, he turned to face Katerina.

"Glad to see you're still alive, Katerina." He returned to his usual posture, forcing Elena to smirk. "The resemblance is..." Elena interrupted him. "Overwhelming, I know." Katerina just stared at her, taking in all of her features, after further examination, she learnt that everything she had said was true. Elena was her future doppelganger.

"Well, this has been sufficiently awkward, time to discuss the plan." Elena nodded her head after she spoke, like was approving her own idea. "The plan is pretty straight forward, you must act like you want the curse to be broken, go to Klaus tell him that you give in." Elijah began with, Katerina looked simply disgusted. "I do not want to die." She interjected bluntly.

"Shut up and let us finish. When it's time for the curse to be broken, me and Elijah will be there, with a witch, who will deliver Klaus to the brink of death..."

"Then I'll finish the job myself." He finished her sentence. The plan was flawless.

And Katerina agreed.

"Go get some rest, you're going to need it, the bed is through there." Elijah directed Katerina towards the bedroom, Elena remained in the living room, stood in the center of the room with her arms crossed.

It wasn't long before Elijah returned to her, he snuck up behind her and caught her in his arms, she was slightly shocked by his apparent romance. He wasn't too different from future Elijah. "You should try and calm Katerina down, she's a bit terrified." Elena took a small breath and walked into the bedroom.

"Katerina?" She had to remember that she isn't Katherine yet, she can't reveal anything from the future, she didn't know why properly but she'd seen plenty of time travel movies. "Yes?" Elena stepped further inside the little room, taking a seat on the bed.

"I know you're scared, trust me, I'm the exact same, what is happening to you will happen to me." She half smiled at her, tears stained Katerina's cheeks. "Does Klaus come after you too?" She asked, slightly shocked.

"Klaus goes after whoever he wants to when he wants too, he will kill many people, not just you and me if he doesn't die tomorrow." She was brutal with her words but she had to make Katherine see the truth about him. She just had too, otherwise, they will all die in 2011.

"I'm scared, Elena." The sadness was so apparent in her voice it nearly brought Elena too tears, for two main reasons, 1; this will happen to her and 2; she knows how it feels to be a victim. "Don't be, we'll keep you safe... I'll keep you safe."

Something she thought she'd never do; Bond with Katherine.