Title: Promise of Forever
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Author: darkmagic-luvr/thecunningclock
Pairings: Kol/Anna
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Unbeta'd. Dedicated to my lovely friend kindofamy for her birthday.

Kol was getting tired of waking up in strange places, no really, he'd had enough. He opened his eyes with a snarl, barely taking a moment to collect his bearings before he was climbing out of the bed and heading for the closests exit. Which happened to be the window of-

"Kol."

The sickly sweet sound of his name being called behind him made him freeze, his head tilting to the side slightly out of...irritation. Kol heard her shift behind him, the click of her shoes on the hardwood floor bringing her closer to him. There was a moment where all he wanted to do was leap from the window instead of dealing with this bitch, but before he could execute it, Bonnie was placing her hand on his arm.

Jaw tightening, Kol swiveled his head around to glare down at her; there was something so off about her face, it was more noticeable now that he could properly see her, no doubt that she was being possessed by the witch who had cursed Anna. What was her name supposed to be? Cataleya? Kol could barely be bothered to care.

Suddenly a thought came to him. The witch could bring his memory back; she said she could take it away, how hard could it be to reverse it? Besides, she said she wanted him to remember, what harm could it do? The image of Anna's arm covered in blood rose to the forefront of his mind, but he had saved her once and he could do it again if he needed to.

Brushing off Bonnie's hand, Kol stepped to the side and started away from her once again, feeling her eyes follow him as she strode carefully around the room; taking in the various things the teenage witch had decorating her room.

"How did I get in here?" he asked casually, nudging the edge of the phone sitting on the bedside table. It was off, figures.

"I brought you," said Bonnie (Cataleya, Kol reminded himself firmly. There was no need to call her by her vessel's name) immediately. "I thought it would be better if we were alone."

Slightly confused and a little creeped out, Kol turned his head to look at Cataleya. "And why would you think that?"

Her eyes narrowed immediately. "Because Anna was there," she hissed, taking a step closer to him. Kol looked away, shaking his head. He didn't bother telling her that he told Anna to go, she was obviously delusional. He caught her reflection in one of the photographs on the way; the deep black veins he saw in the basement wiggling beneath the surface of her skin. "She ruins everything."

"Completely delusional," Kol muttered under his breath, closing his eyes briefly to try and control his temper. His hissed suddenly as pain shot down his arm, twisting around to find his forearm completely split open. He grimaced as his skin began to stitch itself up, turning his eyes onto Cataleya; she was practically shaking with rage, the sclera of her eyes a sickly grey color.

"I was wrong," she said, her voice cracking. "You don't remember me well enough."

And apparently that was a problem.

.

Anna didn't even know why she was crying anymore.

She'd left the house and gone directly back to her room, but the minute she opened the door she had frozen. Her stuff was still throw haphazardly around the room, half of it in a suitcase but most of it on the floor; everything was happening too fast, and suddenly it was all too much to deal with.

She wanted to run away so badly; she didn't care if it was cowardly, she couldn't do it anymore. And what was the point anyway? She'd been through this before and every time she was the one who got hurt - physically and emotionally - Rebekah was right. She was too tired to do this anymore.

Anna paused in her packing, straightening up and pressing her hands to her eyes to try and compose herself. Kol told her to leave, that was the only reason she was even packing; if she wasn't going to help him remember then there wasn't a point in her being there. There wasn't a witch she knew who was powerful enough to undo their situation.

Anna sighed and let her arm fall to the side, closing her eyes briefly and shaking her head before she sniffed and started packing her things once again. "What do you want, Elijah?"

There was a subtle shift of Elijah's shoes on the floor, and Anna listened to him clear his throat softly before he spoke. She didn't bother turning around, he had her attention but he didn't deserve her respect.

"I know we haven't always gotten along," started Elijah carefully, moving to stand next to her, watching as Anna pulled out a few of the shirts she had flung into her suitcase and refold them again. He continued when Anna didn't say a word. "Though that may be an understatement considering-"

"If you want something Elijah just ask," interrupted Anna, pausing in her folding to snap at him.

"You're leaving," he said instead, turning his head away and slipping his hands into his pockets. "That's a shame."

Anna glanced at him briefly and resumed packing, moving slower as she waited for Elijah to get to the point. "Why do you think that?" she prompted, turning and headed for the dresser to grab the few bits of jewelry she had scattered across the surface.

"Well Kol's reversed his compulsion over you," Anna turned her head to stare blankly at him over her shoulder. Elijah stared back unfazed. "My brother's predictably unpredictable, the fact that let even let you go-"

"He told me to leave," Anna interrupted again. Grabbing her jewelry she headed back to her suitcase and tossed them inside carelessly. "Which is what I'm doing. You don't need me around to wipe his memory and I don't want to be here. Just...give me a heads up about where he goes next time."

"I don't plan on wiping his memory, Annabelle," said Elijah simply. Anna's eyes widened, looking up at the older vampire with a mixture of horror and confusion. "This should have been fixed decades ago, but we were all too scared imagining the outcome to bother trying."

"Elijah," breathed Anna, stepping away from him. "Elijah what did you do?"

He closed his eyes, tucking his chin to his chest, pulling a hand out of his pocket and running it through his hair. "Kol is currently with Cataleya." Horrified, Anna felt the breath leave her lungs, shaking as she tried to get herself to move - but she was froze to the spot, and Elijah kept talking, looking at her from under his eyebrows without expression. "It's time you both stopped suffering."

.

Kol's lip twitched as he watched Cataleya have her little mental meltdown. So what if he didn't remember her? From what he recalled, there wasn't much he needed to remember about her. Klaus was the one who had any contact with her. She was delusional, obsessed, and completely-

Interrupting his train of thought by climbing onto the bed standing between them, Cataleya grabbed at him, her reflexes making his head spin. The possessed bitch could move, and Kol barely had time to step out of the way before she lunged at him again, grabbing the front of his shirt and dragging him back to her. She dropped to her knees on the bed, staring at him with wide eyes. For a moment Kol was genuinely frightened; she was a powerful witch, and for some reason she was fixated on him.

It was touch that caused the memories to resurface, it was actually clever if Kol wanted to admit it, especially seeing as how he had been in love with Annabelle during the time she was cursed. Kol felt his stomach churn, his past coming to the forefront of his mind as Cataleya's fingers twitched against his neck. It had never felt this wrong when it was Anna...

When Klaus had told him the name of the witch, Kol's blood had run cold. He hadn't wanted to leave Annabelle and risk the chance that he wasn't there for her when she woke in transition, but he had to, to make sure...

The witch was actually waiting for him, her long dark hair plaited over one shoulder, her caramel colored skin shining brightly in the moonlight. Kol was furious,she didn't even have the decency to look ashamed.

Cataleya opened her mouth, but before she could utter a sound Kol had his hand around her throat. She choked, grasping at his wrist to try and pry him off her. "You tried to kill an innocent girl," he snarled against her face, his fangs bared. "She belongs to me, witch, I take that as an offence."

"You said I belonged to you," she choked out, and his grip around her neck loosened slightly. Cataleya gasped for air, coughing as she struggled to breathe. "Why are you so upset over her? She's nothing-"

"Are you insane?" hissed Kol, his eyebrows furrowing in genuine confusion. "I haven't seen you for months, nor have I wanted to," he shook his head, disgusted at the thought of her now. "Stay away from me, and stay the hell away from Annabelle."

Cataleya's eyes widened, comically, her body going slack for a moment and forcing Kol to pull away from her sharply so he wouldn't have to hold her weight. She stumbled backwards onto the ground, staring up at him. "She's still alive? That's...not possible."

Kol stared at her, feeling numb once again. She was right it wasn't possible. "Not as a human," he said softly, meeting her eyes. He could still smell Annabelle's blood, it must have been on his clothes... "As long as I live so will she."

"You-" her voice cracked as she spoke, pushing herself onto her feet, stumbling pathetically as she tried to regain her footing. "You care for her?"

Kol actually felt a little sorry for her. "Stupid girl...I am utterly in love with her." Without another word he turned to go, listening to the witch he left behind struggle to go after him.

"We're supposed to be together."

Kol felt bile rise up in his throat, blindly shoving the witch's vessel away from him; shaking as he came out of the forced memory. He could feel rage lingering his his chest, along with hopelessness, love, desperation and a myriad of other emotions he didn't know he had been capable of feeling. That was why he never felt when he remembered, and it was a good thing too, because if he felt so strongly for Annabelle there would have been no way he would have let her go.

Teeth clenched, Kol turned his eyes onto Cataleya, watching her brace her hand on the desk she had landed in front of as she climbed to her feet. He wondered suddenly if Anna was in much pain, because surely she must have felt that.

The bitch hadn't just dabbled in dark magic, she had immersed herself in it. She had bound herself to him and him to Anna, which wasn't only invasive and inappropriate but also completely suicidal. If Anna died, he died - Original Vampire or not. Whatever spirits Cataleya had to guide her were doing an absolute shit job.

"Don't you understand now?" asked Cataleya, limping slightly as she started toward him once again. "We're supposed to be together." Yes, he remembered her uttering something about that delusion in the past. She ignored him as he barely managed to suppress a snort. "And without Annabelle we can be."

Kol laughed; he couldn't help it, he laughed straight in her face. She was mentally unstable, she had to be; there was nothing about the memory she had showed him that suggested he had any sort of feeling for her. And while his mind might not have been his own for the time being, he knew without a doubt that no matter what he learned, Cataleya would never be significant in it.

Her nostrils flared, and Kol snorted again, because it was just so amusing to him that this was all taking place inside a teenage girl's bedroom; for God's sake there were stuffed animals on the windowsill. Cataleya barely managed to gain his attention when she spoke again, and it didn't help his mood. "You're not even sorry-?"

"Sorry?!" Kol interrupted loudly, his eyebrows shooting up. "You want me to besorry? Sweetheart," he drawled, walking around the bed and stopping in front of her. "Sorry is the last thing I am."

"Aren't you sick of her?" she begged, touching his chest, her eyes pleading. "Every time you remember her you go through the same pain...She can't possibly be worth it!"

"Do you know how much trouble you've caused me?" asked Kol, all trace of humor gone from his voice. He knocked her hand away, watching her swallow and hoping she was scared of him. "I've spent the last few days walking around like an idiot trying to figure out what was going on, do you really think I wont rip you apart?"

"You can't-"

"You can't possibly be that stupid, of course I'm going to," Kol snarled, grabbing her arm when she made a move to get away without a second thought and regretting it immediately.

He was seriously getting sick of passing out.