Keep holding on

Cause you know we'll make it through

We'll make it through

"Talia! Talia, wake up!" a loud, familiar voice pierced the darkness as someone shook her roughly. Talia groaned as she opened her eyes to find Marcel and Haley crouched above her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Haley demanded.

Talia shifted to sit up, both Marcel and Haley helping a bit, "I think so. Ugh, my neck kills though. Where's Elijah?"

Marcel and Haley shared a look. Marcel sighed, "We don't know."

Reality came crashing down on Talia, "I think I do." The two of them looked confused. "The wolves showed up, attacked us, and as you can see, we managed to defeat them. But Finn and Ester showed up. She must have him."

"And Oliver," Haley added.

Marcel rubbed his chin, "But why not take Talia too? If I was going after Elijah, Talia would be my best leverage."

"I said the same thing but Ester said I would merely be a distraction," Talia replied as Haley and Marcel helped her to her feet.

"A distraction from what?" Haley questioned.

Talia shook her head, "I wish I knew. We have to find them."

"I'm gonna call Klaus," Haley said as she grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket.

"I'm a tad busy, what is it, Haley?" came the Hybrid's reply from the other end of the line.

Haley crossed her arms, "Something happened to Elijah, he was supposed to be our decoy last night, but he's vanished. There's blood everywhere and we found Talia knocked out, she says Ester and Finn attacked them last night. There's a trail, I need you to help us track it."

"Well as much as I'd like to help you find my brother but I've more pressing matters at the moment," Klaus replied, the sound of someone groaning in pain audible in the background.

"What's more important than your own brother?" Haley demanded.

Talia rolled her eyes as Klaus responded, "My life, Davina had Mikael on a magical leash and it broke. And now Mikael has Tunde's blade, the white oak stake, and Cami." Both Marcel and Talia perked up at this new information. "I'm gonna get her back, and then I'm going to end this. Either Mikael or I will be ash by day's end." With that Klaus hung up and the three supernatural creatures shared a look.

The blue eyed vampire sighed, "If Mikael has Cami and the white oak stake that means not only does he have Cami, he's probably done something horrible to Davina. And as much as I want my fiancée home by our wedding next week, they need us."

"Talia, we can't ask you to abandon the love of your life like this," Haley said, concern obvious in her voice.

Said vampire shook her head, "No, he would understand. Besides, if we're there to help Klaus we'll have an advantage and hopefully get this over with sooner than he possibly could on his own."

"Okay, so how do we find him?" Marcel questioned as they set off out of the parking garage.

"He's in the woods," Haley declared, earning a surprised look from both vampires. "Look, I spent months out in the bayou, I know what it sounds like and based on the animals I heard, I have a pretty good idea where."

The three of them zipped out somewhere in the wilderness with Haley leading the way. After a while of searching they came across a group of about a dozen humans dead, torn to pieces. Talia felt her thirst flare up at all the fresh blood but reigned herself in. She hadn't fed in a while and after coming back from the momentary dead she was pretty thirsty.

"This is where he called us from, I can smell his sent," Haley announced.

Talia sighed, "Okay, let's think about this logically. If Mikael got away from Davina, we have every reason to believe Davina would be after him as well."

Without another word, Marcel grabbed his phone out of his pocket and dialed the teenage witch, "Hey, it's me, I know what's going on with Mikael and Klaus, and Cami is mixed up in it too. Where are you?"

Davina was silent for a moment, "He's in a warehouse a few miles east of the Quarter. I'll text you the exact address."

"Thanks Di, be careful." He was only met with silence. A moment later his phone beeped and displayed the address. He looked up at Talia and Haley, "Let's go."

When they got to the warehouse, they heard Mikael and Cami's voices coming from upstairs and zipped up to the second floor. Cami had a hold of the white oak stake and Mikael made a grab for it but Marcel suddenly zipped in, pushed Mikael away from Cami, and punched him in the face repeatedly. Talia zipped over to Cami to make sure she was okay. Lying beside her was an unconscious Klaus but he seemed to be beginning to wake up. However, Mikael was stronger than Marcel and threw the younger vampire to the floor.

"Enough!" Mikael exclaimed holding a piece of wood over him. "This day had been a long parade of fools." He looked up to Talia and Cami. "I'll enjoy killing every last one of you."

Suddenly, a chain appeared around Mikael's neck forcing him to turn around to face Haley. "Yeah, I really wouldn't bet on it," she snarled as she whipped him with the chains. Mikael fell to the floor as Marcel, Klaus, Cami, and Talia got to their feet and Haley joined them.

Mikael straightened as Davina entered the room as well. "It's over, Mikael," Klaus told him. Talia was slightly taken aback that Klaus hadn't just attacked his non-biological father. "You're outnumbered. Are you going to beg for your miserable life?"

The blonde Original, however, simply chuckled, "You think having people makes you strong? It proves how weak you are. Come find me, when you don't have foolish women and children fighting your battles." He threw down the wood in his hand and zipped away.

Talia turned to Davina and before the teenager could say anything she was pulled into a hug. "I was so worried about you," Talia declared as she pulled back.

"I'm sorry," Davina apologized, "I just I need to find a way to fix all of this."

Talia nodded, "I know, I just hope you'll do the right thing in the end."

"I have to go, Kaleb's waiting outside," Davina announced. "I'll call you guys later." Talia looked at Davina curiously as she left the room.

Marcel glanced over at Talia, who merely sighed, "Go on, go after her. But take it easy on her, she's had a rough day." He nodded and left the warehouse.

Klaus then came over to Talia, "I heard about your ordeal last night, how are you doing?"

"Honestly? Physically I'm fine but I'm losing my mind worrying about Elijah. She drove a stake through his chest and snapped his neck in order to take him. God only knows what she's doing to him right now," Talia cried, unshed tears falling down her face.

The Hybrid surprised her by pulling her into an embrace and holding her tightly. She clutched at his shirt trying to calm herself. Klaus gently kissed her forehead before pulling back to look at her seriously. "I swear to you we will find him. And the two of you will be married as planned next week." Talia smiled weakly and nodded.

Klaus released her and walked over to Cami as Haley disappeared out of the room. Talia stood near the window looking out at the city in the distance, trying not to listen to Klaus and Cami's conversation. Elijah was out there somewhere, her gut told her in the cemetery but more than likely he would be cloaked and damn near impossible to get to. She hoped and prayed he was all right and he wasn't in too much pain.

"You know in a thousand years I think it's the first time I've seen him run," Talia heard Klaus tell Cami.

"He was still weak," Cami reasoned.

"And he knew he was outmatched," Haley announced as she and Marcel came back in.

"We checked the perimeter, he's definitely gone," Marcel stated as Talia walked away from the window.

Klaus gave Marcel a meaningful look, "I appreciate your assistance."

Marcel shrugged, "Hey, you die, I die, call me selfish."

"You die, a lot of people die," Talia pointed out.

"But we have another problem," Haley added.

Klaus nodded, "I know, we have to find Elijah. Let us return home and regroup." He slung his arm around Talia's shoulders. "And then we shall get him back."

Meanwhile, back in the Quarter Elijah hung, chained to walls by magic. His mother's mental tortures berating him over and over. His mother was yet again telling him how he would weaken, how his will and resolve would not last, when suddenly Talia appeared and flung Ester out of the way into one of the walls.

"Well that's enough of that, don't you think?" she said with a smile. "Could've ripped her heart out but she'd probably simply take another body." She approached her fiancée and pulled at the chains that bound him. "How do I break these?"

"The doll, break it," Elijah breathed weakly glancing up at that which kept him imprisoned. "She's using it to bind me." Talia ripped the doll down and tore it in half before seeing to the chains. Elijah groaned in pain as he was released.

Talia noticed how tired he was, he could barely hold himself up, "You need to feed." Elijah tried to protest. "No, you need to feed." She bit into her wrist and held it out to him.

"I can't," he insisted looking away from her. Talia cupped his cheek to bring his gaze back to hers. Elijah caught her hand and kissed her palm. "I crave you, Talia. My hunger could overwhelm me."

"I'm not afraid," Talia whispered as she pressed her lips to his. They kissed feverishly for a moment before Talia led him to her neck. "It's all right." Not able to deny it any longer, Elijah gently kissed along the juncture between her neck and shoulders before sinking his teeth into her.

Little did Elijah know, this Talia was a figment of his imagination. A trick his mother had conjured up to force his mind to see things that were not truly there. To believe in a moment of happiness. And a few miles away Talia laid in there bed, unable to sleep, restless and worried. She would not rest until Elijah was safely in her arms once more.

*15 years later*

"Wow, so Mikael really backed down? What a coward," I told Talia earning a small smile.

"Yeah but he wasn't our biggest issue at that moment," she said.

I nodded, "Right, so how did you guys find Elijah?"

"Welll..."