EDITED 06/05/2017 (it's been a long day of editing)
The little witch had left all too quickly, muttering all kinds of profanities under her breath. Kol had been somewhat surprised, as the witch had possessed more of a backbone in their previous encounters. It caused him to worry for Rayna, who was apparently trapped on the Other Side by some unknown witch.
Klaus had not wasted any time in scooping the Prophet into his arms and taking her to the Mansion.
Delicate eyelids remained stubbornly closed, and no matter how many times Klaus whispered for her to return, she was still gone.
"She said this would play out fine." Kol said, in a voice conveying an emotion somewhere between betrayed and defensive. Rayna had told him that she had foreseen a happy ending in her vision. He had been assured that things would turn out alright, and yet here he was, looking at the still body of the girl who had saved him, who had somehow caused him to care that she was so lifeless. He'd been lied to. Played. "She said she'd seen the ending and we all came out alive."
"She was trying to save her brother's life." Klaus replied tightly, not removing his eyes from Rayna's sleeping form. "She'd have said anything."
They had taken her to the mansion where her siblings and their friends had come and seen her. They kept on asking questions, a cold shock settling in on them. Bonnie Bennett had pronounced her not completely dead before any tears had been shed, but not before Stefan could (foolishly) lunge for Klaus.
They were downstairs now, awaiting an explanation, while Elijah, Rebekah, Klaus and Kol remained with Rayna. Klaus wasn't willing to answer their questions yet. In fact, he wasn't willing to answer any of their bloody questions at all. They were useless to him- they were the reason she was in that wretched place- if only they'd listened to her warnings about raising Silas, if only...
If only he'd listened.
Oh, how he longed to plunge a stake right through his little brother's dead heart.
"This," Klaus said with a clenched jaw, still not moving his eyes from Rayna's sleeping form.
His voice was calm, eerily calm, and Kol felt something like goosebumps on the back of his neck as he watched Klaus' expression carefully. Was he afraid of Niklaus? Not normally, no. But if Rayna didn't make it out of this alive, he might change that answer...
"Is your fault. " Klaus continued, "If we do not find a way to fix this, dear brother, I will destroy you.
Kol looked down at the floor, knowing to believe his brother's words.
"His fault?" Elijah asked. "Rayna saved Kol's life where you chose not to. She did what she had to do in order to protect her brother and yours from your own selfishness. I am afraid that the blame falls on you."
"I told her I had no interest in the cure anymore. There are always other loopholes. She knew that I was with her no matter what, Elijah, but she didn't tell me. And neither did Kol. He just plotted with her behind my back, and now look what has happened!"
Elijah looked to Kol, who unwillingly nodded. Klaus was telling the truth.
"We aren't stupid enough to believe that, Nik," Rebekah said, speaking with dismay for the first time from her position at Rayna's bedside.
Klaus' eyes zeroed in on her, narrowed and menacing.
"You know what I've been wondering?" Klaus asked. "How exactly did they get the white oak stake in the first place?"
"What are you saying?" Elijah asked, his eyes flickering between Klaus and a suddenly guilty-looking Rebekah.
"It wasn't my fault!" she cried. "Stefan got it while I was asleep."
"You slept with Stefan?" Kol asked.
"Oh, grow up, Kol!" she yelled. "It wasn't my fault, Nik."
"You let your guard down and nearly destroy this family." Klaus seethed.
Elijah sighed. "Rebekah. I think you should leave?"
"What? Elijah-"
"You need to cool off so that we can decide what to do now." he told her.
Rebekah looked at Elijah, feeling betrayed, before looking back at Rayna. She knew she'd find no sympathy in Klaus' eyes, so she left.
"Niklaus." Elijah (ever the voice of reason) spoke, placing a hand on his brother's tense shoulder and glaring Kol into silence. "You need to tell me exactly what happened."
Stefan Salvatore wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.
He sat at the rounded table. Also seated was Jeremy, Elena, Damon, Caroline and Bonnie. All they knew was that Rayna wasn't dead (but looked very close to it), that Kol somehow hadn't been killed and that, as a result, Jeremy's tattoo was nowhere near complete.
There were so many gaps... so many questions.
His knuckles were white as he clenched his fists, a familiar, irritating voice getting more under his skin than normal.
"We don't have time for this." Damon continued. "We need to get Jeremy to kill an original and get the hell outta here, we can help Rayna after. We don't have time to sit here and do nothing."
"They have the white oak stake now, though." Elena said.
"Rebekah got it for us before, she'll do it again. Just let Stefan put his charms on her." Damon all but smirked, squeezing his brother's shoulder. Stefan ripped his arm away, looking at Damon with disgust.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Caroline asked. "This is Rayna we're talking about! Are you really gonna risk her life for the sake of one vampire becoming human again? I'm sorry, Elena, but-"
"You sound just like her now." Elena said. "We can help her after, of course we will, she's my sister... but we might not get this chance again. This is important to me. She'd want you to help me."
Jeremy couldn't contain himself any longer. He found that, in that moment, he could no longer stop himself from taking sides. "Oh my God, Elena! She was right about you. You're a selfish bitch."
Elena gasped as Stefan frowned at Jeremy's words.
"Hey!" Damon warned, "I've killed you once, Gilbert." But Jeremy ignored him.
"If the situation was reversed," he continued, "she'd save you and you know it! I'm not killing an original, I don't care if you want to be human, as long as Rayna's alive. That is what matters right now."
"Jeremy," she gasped, tears glossing over her eyes as she shook her head profusely. "I'm not saying we shouldn't help her, I'm just saying-"
"That you're more important." Jeremy finished.
"Well," Damon began, in a tone that made Stefan's entire body tense apprehensively. "If the shoe fits-"
The scraping of a chair drew all eyes to Stefan as he stood and lunged for his brother, his fist connecting with Damon's jaw.
"STOP!" someone shrieked, but not before Damon was thrown to the floor. Panting, Stefan turned to Rebekah who stood at the entrance to the room.
Her hair was not the picture of perfection it normally was. Beneath her eyes, redness remained from earlier tears beside Rayna's sleeping form. There was so much guilt, the prospect of never having the chance to fully mend a broken friendship that had meant so much to her was too much to bare- certainly too much to focus on appearances or other petty luxuries.
"Look at you." the female original said, her eyes scanning over all of them before eventually resting on Elena. "You would risk your sister's life to be human." The disgust in her voice caused the doppelganger to shrink back. "And to think, I almost became exactly like you. I nearly risked Kol's life for this cure, but... Look at you. God, I'm glad your stupid plan didn't work... Your sister is upstairs, barely even alive, with hardly even a pulse, fighting all on her own- and here you are, for another episode of the Elena Show... I think you need to leave."
"What?"
"Get out, Elena. We will save Rayna." Rebekah assured, her effortless determination making Jeremy feel calmer, as he was still out of the loop on what was really going on. "But not with you." Rebekah continued. "You need to leave, because if you don't, I swear to God, I'll kill you myself. And I don't want to do that, do you want to know why? Because for some reason, Rayna actually gives a damn about you. If only you did the same for her... I'm done with this cure now. And boy, is this family done with you."
"So am I." Jeremy said, standing, and looking down at his oldest sibling, as though seeing her for the first time.
"Jeremy." she gasped, tears in her eyes, "No."
"You heard them, Elena."
"Bonnie? No, I-"
"Elena."
It was then, when Elena turned hopefully to the green eyes of Stefan Salvatore, that Elena finally felt the tears fall.
Stefan raised his chin, looking down at a girl he'd once loved, a girl for whom he'd once fought not too many hours ago to find a cure for. It was then that he realised how foolish it all had been.
"I think you and Damon should leave." he said, ignoring the tightness in his chest.
With the last hope she had, Elena turned to Caroline.
"You heard them." the blonde vampire said, folding her arms across her chest.
As Elena Gilbert, with wounded pride, clutched to her boyfriend as he led her out of there, oddly quiet considering who he was, she felt herself go numb, feeling empty. Was she alone now?
Where had it all gone wrong?
As they reached the front door, she saw a figure out of the corner of her eye, stood at the foot of the grand staircase.
"Elijah."
If anyone would be able to convince them that she wasn't the villain they now seemed to think she was, it was him. Ever understanding and fair, she stepped towards him. He'd fallen in love with Tatia and Katherine, surely that meant he had some sort of feelings for her, surely he'd take her side.
"Elena," Elijah responded. "Don't let the door hit you on your way out."
Elijah watched Elena Gilbert and Damon Salvatore leave the mansion. He briefly heard Kol come down the stairs behind him.
"Interesting." Kol mused, "How self-centredness can tear apart a family so quickly." He said, knowing that Niklaus could hear him.
"Enough, brother." Elijah chided seriously as he continued to walk down the staircase. "Niklaus has enough to handle today without you twisting the knife."
Kol pulled a face behind Elijah's back. "Please, he can't hear me, he's too busy wondering whether to seize his chance with Sleeping Beauty now, seeing as he didn't stand a chance when she was-"
In a flash, Kol was being thrown off of the side of the staircase.
"Klaus!" Elijah yelled, turning and grabbing his brother before the Original Hybrid could jump down after Kol and rip out his liver.
Elijah slammed Klaus against the wall and struggled to keep him there as Klaus fought against him.
"Off me, Elijah!" he snarled.
"Yes, Elijah," Kol added, standing from his spot on the ground floor and wiping his chin with his sleeve, a grin on his face. "Let Nikky go so he can play house."
With a roar of anger, Klaus shoved Elijah off of him and leapt towards Kol, who sped out of the way just in time before being tackled to the ground by his brother.
Klaus stood, gathering his wits before Elijah, and grabbed Kol by the chest.
"Is this the part where you dagger me?"
"This is the bit where I tear you apart." Klaus responded, plunging his hand into Kol's chest.
Kol spluttered, his eyes widening in agony and fear, feeling his brother's hand touching the surface of his most (ironically) vital organ.
"It's not my fault, you know." Kol breathed heavily, coughing. "It was her choice."
"I know that. But from where I'm standing, you haven't done much to help. You treat everything like it's a joke."
It was then that Kol saw what was bringing this on. It wasn't because Kol was annoying- although that was most definitely the case. It was because Nik was worried about her.
"And I would never touch her without consent, do you understand me?"
Kol coughed again, and a trickle of blood fell from his mouth as his brother tightened his grip on his heart.
"Relax, brother." Kol laughed weakly, hearing Klaus' silent question. "I might've been in her body, but I didn't look. I'm a gentleman."
"I can feel your heartbeat." Klaus said, after a moments pause. "You're telling the truth."
"No shit. I'm the good looking one, remember? I can get a woman without- aah!"
Klaus' grip had tightened considerably.
"Niklaus." Elijah said, and Klaus saw him out of the corner of his eye. "He's had enough."
Klaus stared Kol down for several more seconds, before reluctantly letting go of him, grimacing at his now bloodied hand.
Kol, coughing, clutched his chest, and was about to say something else when Elijah silenced him with a glare.
"We still have company. They're in the entertaining room, on the ground floor." Elijah told him as he wiped his bloodied hand on his shirt.
"I don't care. Tell them to get out of my house."
"They're here for Rayna. They want to help. They care about her."
"Only when it's life-or-death."
"Niklaus."
"Fine." he relented. "You deal with them, I'm going back to check on her." Klaus said, effectively dismissing him, before disappearing upstairs.
Elijah sighed to himself, looking sideways at Kol who was stood, muttering about his ruined shirt. The oldest surviving original feared for him.
If Rayna died, then Elijah feared that the humanity he'd seen in Klaus these past few months would vanish. If that were to happen, Kol would certainly be the first on Klaus' hit-list. Rebekah would also be sure to go off the rails, and Kol seemed to have grown something of a soft spot for the prophet as well.
Elijah looked down. His entire family would be devastated, really. Including himself.
Rayna Gilbert had made quite the impression on all of them.
"Elijah. Is Kol still breathing?" Rebekah asked as her oldest surviving brother entered the room.
"You'll be happy to know." Kol answered as he followed Elijah. He raised his eyebrow at the group of people sitting in their house, until his eyes rested on Caroline who was eyeing the blood and hole in his shirt. He grinned cheekily at her, and when she realised that he was watching her she scoffed and rolled her eyes, as though his injury didn't bother her in the slightest.
"I expect you all have some questions." Elijah said, his eyes resting on Jeremy.
"Yes." Stefan said. "I think we'd all like to know what the hell is going on."
Elijah nodded. "Very well. But I suggest that each of you ensure that you are seated. There are parts of this story that might cause some of you distress."
Klaus hadn't gotten a proper moment alone with Rayna. When Kol and Elijah had left, it hadn't taken two minutes for Kol to start causing trouble, knowing exactly which buttons to push.
The Original Hybrid sighed, shutting the bedroom door behind him. She was in his room. He'd brought her here on instinct, really, without much thought. But now that he went to open the curtains to see the rising sun illuminate the room, he knew that it was only right.
He'd shown her his paintings, things he'd never shown any woman before, so why shouldn't she also go in his room? For some odd reason, he felt he could protect her more here.
The hybrid took a seat beside the bed, wondering briefly whether or not he should close the curtains, before deciding not to. It felt wrong, somehow, to keep them closed. Like he would be trapping her in his own darkness.
He was not naive, however. He knew that he still was dragging her into his abyss- God, he already had. He swallowed and turned to look at her. She was so peaceful, so exquisite, it was difficult to imagine what she must be going through at that very moment. Because of him.
Anger swirled in his chest. She was so stubborn. She should never have risked her own safety, just to protect Kol and Jeremy.
And thousands of other vampires…
She was ten times the person he'd ever be. Klaus felt his eyes sting for some strange reason and gently lifted his hand, tenderly brushing a strand of hair from her face.
"I cannot be mad at you." He whispered, so quietly that he was sure nobody would hear him from downstairs. He could barely focus on them anyway. All that was, was him and her. "I wish you had told me. I was going to help you. I could have stopped this, I..."
Klaus opened his eyes and searched her face for any sign of movement. But she was still, the only colour on her face was provided by the beams of light that illuminated her skin.
"You were never just my Prophet." He told her quietly, as he leaned over and gently pressed his lips against her temple. "I'm going to bring you back. Whatever it takes. You have my word."
"As I come to understand it, there was a plot to kill my brother." Elijah spoke, looking somewhat pointedly at Jeremy, who swallowed under the original's stare.
"We thought we had killed him." Bonnie said, glaring at Kol. "Clearly getting you originals to stay dead is the hard part."
"Bonnie, maybe now isn't the time." Caroline whispered, harsher than intended. She was eager to get this story over with so that they could all work to find a solution. She needed Rayna to be okay again.
"Defending my honour, darling?" Kol asked, cheekily.
Caroline scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"Regardless- you succeeded in killing my brother in his physical form. But, as Kol tells me, beforehand, Rayna had given him a visit."
Kol gave Caroline a suggestive wink and she scoffed. "Please, Rayna wouldn't go anywhere near you like that."
"Jealous?"
"Kol." Elijah warned.
Kol sighed. "Fine." He said, sobering up somewhat. "She told me that she'd had a vision, and that if I followed her instructions, we would stop Silas from rising and nobody would have to die, and nobody would get hurt. I now realise, of course, that this was a lie."
"Why would she lie?" Jeremy asked.
"She was protecting you and Kol. She'd spoken several days previously of her concerns that the both of you would end up dead. In light of this, Rayna came up with a plan to prevent this from happening-"
"-While lying-"
"-At great personal risk to herself." Elijah finished, speaking over Kol and giving him a warning look. He turned back to the rest of his audience. "Rayna convinced Kol to switch bodies with her."
Jeremy paled considerably. He felt sick.
"So, when Elena and I killed Kol…"
"You were killing your own flesh and blood." Elijah finished. "However, Rayna did not, herself, die either. Her plan ensured that both her and Kol would survive. All that was left was for a witch to return each of their souls into the correct bodies."
"So, Rayna saved my life? But why? How?" Jeremy asked.
"Somehow, the journey to raise Silas would have killed you in the end." Elijah replied. "As for her reasoning, you are her brother."
"So, I mean, you're Kol, right?" Caroline asked, pointing at Kol in confusion.
"Yes." Elijah said, before Kol could respond. "The witch managed to return Kol to his own body. She was unsuccessful with Rayna, however. There is a witch or spirit, a very powerful one at that, who is currently keeping Rayna on the other side."
There was silence as everyone absorbed this information.
Suddenly, the doors burst open and in marched Klaus. When he spotted Bonnie in the group of people, he ordered, "You. Witch. I need you to bring her back."
Bonnie raised an eyebrow at his tone.
"I'll pay you." he told her irritably, in no mood for any wasting time.
She scoffed, offended. "I don't want your money. Rayna's my friend, but I can't just bring her back if there's really someone trapping her there. I'll need someone to go to the other side, find wherever her spirit is, and bring her back."
"Is that really necessary?" Elijah asked.
"Yes. She's no ordinary person, as you know. If someone is trapping her there, then they must be really powerful. I'll need as many allies on that side as I can get."
"I'll go." Klaus said, without hesitation. "Can you do the spell now?"
"I'll do it. But I might not be able to bring you back." Bonnie told him.
"I don't care." Klaus said.
Elijah looked at him in shock, as did Kol.
"I'm going." Stefan said adamantly. "I can save her alone."
Klaus' eyes narrowed dangerously. "You really think you have the power to do anything?"
"Yeah, I've been her friend for years now. I've helped her escape a powerful witch before, no thanks to you."
"What?"
"Didn't she tell you about Gloria?" Stefan asked, smirking as Klaus' eyes widened ever so slightly. Rayna clearly had not told him.
"Will both of you just shut up?" Caroline asked, causing both vampires to turn and stare at her in shock. "Rayna is my best friend. I've been there with her since the beginning. I'll be damned if I let you two get a choice instead of me. I'm going."
"No." Kol said, speaking for the first time. "Absolutely not."
"Who the hell do you think you are?"Caroline cried in outrage. "It's not up to you!"
"Well, darling, considering that Rayna is there because she saved me-"
"By that logic," Caroline interrupted the original, "Jeremy should go. But we're not gonna let him-"
"I am going." Jeremy said, speaking up. "She's my sister. Nobody else here knows her like I do. She's my family, it's up to me, not anyone else."
"Rayna would kill us if anything happened to you." Bonnie interjected.
"I agree." Rebekah spoke. "She went there for you- you risking your life in turn means that if anything happens to her, her sacrifice was for nothing."
Elena stared at her own reflection.
She was in the upstairs bathroom at the Boarding House, wrestling with her own conscience. After wiping away the tears, she decided that it was time to go down and find Damon so that they could talk strategy.
She ran down the stairs at vampire speed.
"Damon?" she asked as she ran around the corner. "I have an idea- we can still-" she stopped moving when she saw him. He was sat there, on one of his leather sofas. But there was something different. Not the roaring fire, or the glass of bourbon in his right hand, rested on his lap. Not the way he was sat, or his clothes. It was all normal, but there was something in his gaze that had made Elena stop. He wasn't looking at her. In fact, he didn't seem to be looking at anything.
"Damon?" she asked again.
But he didn't even blink. Slowly, unsure of what to do, Elena sat down on the sofa opposite him. She called out his name again, this time more quietly, but received no more of a response than she had the first or second time. Many minutes seemed to pass, and all that could be heard was the roaring flames. That is, until Damon began to speak.
"I remember," Damon said, "When once, I was dying. A werewolf bit me, and we had- I mean, there was no hope left at all. Klaus' blood was the only cure, and why would he help us? We tried to kill him." Damon trailed off, deep in thought, and brought the glass to his lips once more.
Elena, with enhanced supernatural senses, saw the trickle between his lips. She watches as he swallowed the alcohol and smelt it linger in the air.
The intoxicating amber liquid in the crystal glass was taken from his mouth and he rested it on his lap once more. Damon still wasn't looking at her, but rather, his eyes seemed to be focusing on something far away, some memory, perhaps.
"But I'm here." Damon continued in the same, calm tone. "I'm just as alive as I'll ever be. Because she and Stefan both sacrificed their freedom to save me. Rayna had no reason to, no loyalty by birth to me, but she risked everything to help me."
"What is your point?"
"You know my point, Elena."
"I- I don't need this, Damon." Elena spoke, running her fingers through her hair. "I need you to comfort me! I need you to help me!"
"I don't know if I can do that anymore. Not like this."
Elena felt herself recoil. "W-What are you saying?"
Damon looked at her for the first time. "I'm saying that you have a sister who needs our help more."
"B-but that m-means I'll never be human again."
"I know, baby. But if you were human, and as a result, both Rayna and Jeremy died, would you ever forgive yourself?"he asked her, knowing the answer.
Elena swallowed, hot tears flowing down her cheeks.
She swallowed again, knowing the answer, and looked down at her lap in shame as a sob escaped her.