Chapter 3
As they reawakened Elena, Bonnie and Caroline realized they were in the woods instead of Bonnie's Gram's backyard. They all got to their feet and then realized that they were not as alone as they originally thought. A woman appeared before them but while Elena and Caroline were apprehensive Bonnie seemed to recognize her.
"Ayana"
"Bonnie Bennett, Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert I have been waiting for you," she greeted. "I've come to offer you a little help on your quest but most of it lies in your hands. I'm going to spell it so you can speak and understand the language and also so that your clothing and appearance fit in." She began to chant then and the girls watched in amazement as their jeans were replaced with period gowns – navy for Caroline, emerald for Elena and purple for Bonnie. Their hair grew long so that each girl's stopped at the small of their back. Elena's was wavy without the modern convenience of a flat iron as was Caroline's, Bonnie's was straight and smooth in a braid down her back.
"Wow! Look at your hair!" Caroline exclaimed pointing to Elena.
"Look at yours," Elena replied.
"Now the village is a short walk that way," Ayana said as she pointed. "You needn't worry about Esther and Mikael as they are already out of the picture but you are on your own for the rest of it. Please do not fail." She was gone in the blink of an eye a moment later.
"Wow…we're a thousand years in the past…" Caroline marveled. "So what do we do first?"
"We find a Mikaelson – preferably not one of the psychotic ones…" Bonnie sighed. Caroline ran in the direction Ayana had pointed the village to be only to come to a full-stop a short distance away. She looked at Bonnie and Elena in total shock.
"I think I'm human," she worried.
"Wow," Elena said with obvious amazement.
"Well that was unexpected," Caroline said.
"Hey it's a chance to be human again," Bonnie smiled brightly. Caroline put on her best smile but Elena could tell that it didn't quite reach her eyes. Caroline had more than made her peace with being a vampire. She had reveled in it. Not to mention this put them at a definite disadvantage with the Mikaelsons.
They walked through the forest until they came to the outskirts of the village. It was definitely a different time. They took in the buildings and the people mingling about still unaware of their presence. As they walked around the outskirts Elena noticed wild horses in the distance. They were beautiful and she walked towards them.
As she reached the field where they stood she saw a man in the distance. He seemed to be tending the horses. Suddenly he looked up and straight at her. He covered the field between them in an instant to stand before her and she found her breath coming in short gasps. His hair was longer but she would know those beautiful brown eyes anywhere. The lack of suit made her smirk.
"Elijah"
"Tatia?" Elijah frowned – clearly pained. Elena couldn't help it as she reached out and laid her hand on his arm.
"No, my name is Elena and I have a nearly unbelievable story to tell you but we need your help," she said gently. She looked over her shoulder to see Caroline and Bonnie hurrying to catch up with her.
"Oh my goodness Elijah" Caroline gasped as she took in his appearance.
"Have we met? I'm afraid I don't remember you and I would not forget ladies as lovely as you," Elijah spoke with an easy smile though his eyes only left Elena's for a moment.
"We have met," Bonnie said, "only a thousand years in the future…"
"Impossible"
"Not when you're an original vampire," Elena said unflinching as he stared at her with that announcement.
"How would you…" he began.
"Know that? Because we've met you and I know how to prove it," Caroline said. Bonnie and Elena stared at her.
"Damon and Stefan have entered other people's memories before…" Caroline explained.
"Caroline we have to be extremely careful not to contaminate the timeline!" Bonnie worried. Elijah was regarding them with skepticism.
"As a vampire you can enter another vampire or even a human's mind and see memories. Caroline was going to show you proof that we've met in the future but Bonnie and I are worried that if you saw too much or something important that it could ruin the timeline," Elena said gently.
"You do realize how foolish all of this sounds?" Elijah asked.
"No worse than trying to explain to someone that you're a vampire and can't be killed although you're technically already dead," Caroline said. Elijah realized that she was quite correct. He had firsthand experience with the seemingly impossible.
"Okay…I'm willing to try this and though I have never done it before I will try not to venture too far or be influenced by anything I see," Elijah said. So he'd been born with his unfailing morals and principles.
"Okay, Elena you've had by far and away the most memories with him. Can you think of one that won't get us into trouble?" Bonnie asked with a very serious expression. Elena thought long and hard trying to think of a moment with Elijah when they had not been deep in discussion about some plot or other. Finally a smile came to her face. Elijah found it interesting that this young woman Elena had spent the most time in the future with him – well he had always had a thing for brunettes.
"Yes, I've got one"
"Do you know how this works?" Elijah asked.
"Well not exactly…I think you just think about slipping into someone's mind and then it happens…" Elena said.
"I will try," Elijah said and Elena stood bravely before him. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it would feel like to slip inside someone's mind. Suddenly he was in a vast room walking up steps towards his siblings. The room was full of people. The women in strange gowns and the men in black and white attire – he smiled as he joined his siblings. Klaus was there, Finn, Rebekah and Kol. They were all smiling and they looked so happy. If this was a thousand years in the future then he wanted this. Their future looked good. As he turned while he was speaking to the crowd he saw her. The beautiful young woman before him that looked so much like Tatia but wasn't. Her eyes were locked with his and he wondered again – judging by the look she was giving him – what their relationship was. The blonde woman was also there and he got a brief of image of her dancing with a smiling Niklaus before he was jolted back into the present.
"Did it work?" Elena worried as all three of the girls stared at him anxiously.
"Yes I saw all of my siblings at some kind of gathering and you were there," Elijah said. "Why are you here?"
"We have to find and destroy a ring," Bonnie said.
"Well, well Elijah. It's not like you to keep all the ladies to yourself," Klaus grinned where he had just appeared. Caroline blushed as she looked at him.
"Tatia? It's not possible…" Klaus immediately looked haunted. It had only been a month ago that they she had died and now impossibly she stood before them. What form of magic was this that haunted them now?
"She is not Tatia brother," Elijah said. "They have come for our help."
"Come from where? I know I wouldn't forget a face as lovely as this," Klaus grinned at Caroline who blushed again while Bonnie rolled her eyes.
"The future actually," Caroline sighed as Klaus looked incredulous.
"I'm inclined to believe them brother," Elijah said seriously. "They know much about us and I have seen a memory." Elijah went on to explain what he had seen.
"What are you looking for?" Klaus asked.
"A ring called Wolf's Bane" Bonnie said.
"Seriously brother? You're seriously buying that these three maidens are from the future and they came all the way back for a ring?" Klaus started laughing. Elijah noticed the looks of defeat on the girl's faces.
"I believe them," Elijah said. "Their hearts would jump if they weren't being honest." Elena's eyes snapped to his as he said this and Elijah couldn't help but wonder if he found her eyes this mesmerizing in the future.
"Okay if you're from the future then tell me something," Klaus demanded.
"You're a hybrid," Caroline said boldly. That announcement wiped the smirk right off of Klaus' face.
"Come it's getting late and we need to get in," Elijah said. "We'll need to be careful with her – she'll attract a lot of attention." He motioned to Elena. They carefully made their way into the village and into the home they had once shared with their parents.
"Excuse me could you show me to the bathroom?" Caroline asked. Elijah and Klaus frowned at her.
"What is a bathroom?"
"Something that doesn't exist yet," Bonnie growled. "watch it or we're going to ruin the future!"
"Okay so where does one…" Caroline began and Bonnie and Elena pointed outdoors.
"Can we hurry up and find that ring?" Caroline groaned as she slipped outside. No sooner had she left than another Mikaelson appeared. This one had Bonnie and Elena both going pale Elijah noticed.
"Kol," they gasped almost in unison. He smiled brightly at them and walked over.
"I'm sorry I don't remember meeting you," he offered his hand. For a moment neither of the girls moved but then Elena offered out her hand and Kol kissed her knuckles. Bonnie offered hers out next and as Kol kissed her knuckles his eyes never left hers. He smiled charmingly at her.
"I'm sorry I don't know your names although you seem to know mine," he said still looking at Bonnie. Elijah didn't miss the fact that her heart was racing.
"Bonnie," she said still shocked by how different this Kol seemed from the psychotic one in the future - although both of them definitely had the ability to make her go weak in the knees. She pulled her hand back where he had still been holding it.
"No one told me we were having company," Rebekah gasped where she came in the back door. Kol gasped and instantly rushed to his sister when he noticed that she had blood on her from her latest meal. He was obviously worried about keeping their secret.
"It's okay Kol, they know what we are," Elijah said and Kol frowned. "We'll explain over dinner."
Rebekah looked at them with skepticism but then hurried to clean herself and return to some sense of presentable. Meanwhile Finn entered the hut and the introductions began once more. Caroline had returned as Finn, Elijah and Klaus were serving up the stew that had been cooking on the hearth.
"Oh wow, this is really good," Caroline exclaimed as she took a bite, "and I am starving." Elena noticed the Mikaelsons only took half as much as what they offered to their guests. They were already finding a balance for their new diet. She took a bite of her stew and found that it was indeed delicious.
"Thank you," Rebekah smiled gently. It was hard to juxtapose this sweet, humble young woman with her modern-day counterpart. A thousand years had been good to some of them and not so kind to others. Elena found herself wishing that she could give them a few lessons to avoid their modern day outcomes. She'd start with those damn daggers.
"Now that we are all assembled could you please tell us all what brings you here," Elijah invited as they sat near the hearth enjoying their meal. Bonnie looked around at their faces hoping that they would be able to take her words seriously. Elena reached over with her free hand to give Bonnie's hand a squeeze.
"Ayana came to me in the future and told me that you all were in trouble. That we needed to destroy a threat but that she couldn't do so alone. That threat is a ring that would allow werewolves to kill you."
"We already know that a werewolf bite can kill a vampire," Rebekah frowned. Caroline bit her lip. It was going to be very hard not to disclose everything they knew.
"In a thousand years there will be many more vampires in the world," Bonnie disclosed carefully. "As the first vampires you play by a different set of rules so-to-speak." She looked helplessly to Elena and Caroline. If she pointed out to them how special they were might they consider themselves kings and queens? Would they go on a killing spree? The fear of changing anything became almost suffocating.
"They are worried about changing our future and in turn their future," Elijah interjected.
"Every time I've ever seen this in a mov- err book it has never turned out well," Bonnie sighed. Elijah saw the worry on the girl's faces.
"I think we need to trust them and not ask so many questions," he spoke to his siblings. "What if someone had told our parents that all of this would come to pass – that Henrik would be killed? Perhaps they would have done things differently…"
"If they had done things differently Henrik and Tatia would still be alive," Klaus growled.
"But what Elijah is saying is that our future is like a carefully woven tapestry," Finn said. "If a single stitch is removed the whole thing could unravel." The looks on the Mikaelson's faces showed that they were clearly trying to understand the seriousness of the situation.
"I promise we do not want to do you harm. Your continued existence is very important to us," Elena said gently and Elijah once again wondered what they were to one another in the future.
The siblings finally agreed that they would place their trust in their big brother and in the strangers that he had such faith in. As the hearth was stoked a final time everyone settled in on their pallets on the floor. Rebekah and their guests were given the spots closest to the hearth followed by Kol, Klaus, Finn and finally Elijah slept nearest to the door. Elena inwardly smiled – no wonder Elijah had such a penchant for super posh bedding and five star hotels. He had definitely earned it. She laid her head down on the pallet and tried not to think about her own warm bed at home.
