Elena's' POV
I wake slowly, my eyes drifting to the two heads that loll next to me. Sam's head rests next to my shoulder. Deans head is by my leg and his arm is draped beside me holding onto my forearm. I smile softly; wondering how we got here, before I hear the other heartbeats and attempt to untangle myself without waking the brothers. As I rise over the back of the couch Kol appears in the doorway and I frown. Well it must have been bad if he is here.
I look at the two still slumped against the couch and waive at Kol dismissively before grabbing the blankets that are next to the couch. I look them over before determining shifting Sam onto the couch will be easier. I drop to remove the mans shoes and notice the clothes I am in for the first time. Well that confirms it was definitely bad. Slipping his shoes off he barely stirs while I make short work of slipping him onto the couch. He shifts and grunts but remains asleep as I cover him.
Glancing around the room I find an old throw pillow and bring it over to tip Dean onto. As I attempt to lean him over he startles awake grabbing me tightly by the arms, eyes angry and wide before he sees it is me and loosens his hold.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." I whisper my hand drifting to his face with a sad smile. His arms pull me down and I end up awkwardly hugging him.
"You should be resting kitten." He grumbles half asleep and I chuckle.
"I will be fine, thanks to you and Sam no doubt. Putting that knight armor to good use again, I will have to tell Bobby." I muse pulling back to grab a blanket and the way he watches me through hooded eyes makes my stomach twist. I have chased after the idea of one man for so long that this feeling from someone other than him confuses me.
"You pulled off the sleeping beauty routine pretty well." He says his eyes drifting shut and I laugh quietly leaning down to kiss his cheek. Rising to my feet I am startled once more by Elijah watching me from the room I saw Kol disappear into. The previous twist in my stomach tangling into knots quickly. His stare is unwavering, an expression I don't recognize on the man. I dip my head at him slightly before entering the room. Kol sits at a table, an old journal in front of him.
"I would guess things were bad if you're both here." I wave around the room at the foreign decorations. "Where ever it is that we are." I see Elijah turn to pull a box from the fridge and I move quickly when he holds out a bag of blood. Not caring for presentation when I bite into it quickly; my body demanding to feed.
"It was indeed bad. I believe Sam Winchester thought he was hauling two dead bodies from the scene." Sadness fills me at Kols words. My eyes drift into the living room once more; lingering on the brothers that keep carrying me away from harm.
"Damn, the last thing I remember was trying to purify some demons." I drop the empty bags into a trash can before sitting beside Kol and casting a look at what he was reading. My heart stops at the words on the page.
"The child strikes her hard, showing great strength. Elena shows greater wisdom in her actions that follow." My mind boggles as my eyes race down the page.
"She will know the greatest sorrows but also that the heights of happiness are limitless."
"Elena runs now, for her life, but mostly for theirs. Seeking solace in their safety and stumbling into the unknown like a baby deer through a meadow. Uncertain of her steps and the direction she is heading. The beginning of hope is near."
"What…. What is that?" I ask unable to tear my eyes from the pages.
"She plunges the sword into the ground, all too aware of the actions she will have to take."
"It's the prophecy of you Ellie. You should read back here, it's a real page turner." Kol says looking at me as he says it. I can't read his emotions but my heart races.
"I am sorry Elena. I tried to implore to my dear brother that it should not be read by any other than you." I nod absentmindedly at Elijah's words. Still staring at another line as Kol flips through the pages.
"Humanity will be ripped from her bloody hands. Elena will chase after what she has lost until he arrives." My heart thunders as Kol pulls me from the chair and out a back door.
"Kol?" I question as he drags me further into the woods. He stops when we are no longer in hearing distance and turns to embrace me tightly. I wrap my arms around him, giving my friend a few moments to compose himself. As he does it occurs to me the last line in the book was most likely about the man embracing me now.
"The woman has seen many things, some that have passed others that have not. I mean not to pry into your life but to find the information you can use in this fight. Also, so that you would not have to read it." He says still holding me to him and I feel my anxiety lesson.
"You enjoy surprises Ellie. Lets' not let the book take the excitement this world still carries from you." He says pushing back to look at me and I smile shaking my head at him.
"You know what I will want before I do sometimes. You know that?" I say, and he chuckles darkly.
"No one who has known you for a month would not know this would haunt every step you take." He says holding the book out. "To be honest some of them don't even make sense, some don't give enough information to do anything with." He exclaims in exasperation. I chuckle looking up to the stars above the trees.
"That last line was about you I believe. You helped bring my humanity back to me." I whisper and see him staring at me from the corner of my eye.
"She has seen your death Ellie." Kols' quiet words pull my eyes back to his. He watches me with a soft expression, full of sadness and I wish to wipe it from his face.
"Which one?" I ask with a raised brow; trying to lighten the mood. He shakes his head before looking to the stars.
"One yet to pass." He says as I scuff my bare foot on the ground looking at the pine needles we stand in.
"I…. Kol." I sigh looking for words to comfort a man that seldom needs it but find none. "I told your brother that this task; responsibility is larger than me, my family, your family. So many lives hang in the balance. I will not turn from this fight. I can't diverge from this path; even if I wanted too." I answer softly, watching his eyes tighten.
"But you don't want to; do you?" He asks tightly making me smile at his dark expression.
"It may not be about my family or your family but what is a world without the people I love in it?" Imploring him to understand that this isn't just about some obligation.
"The woman speaks as if your fate can be changed." He nearly grumbles making me cast a large smile in his direction.
"Good. I will work towards that. To many moments I don't want to miss. Jeremy getting married, Bonnie having a child, Caroline finally running off with Stefan and of course, last but not least, Africa. You still owe me a trip. Maybe Davina can come." I reply cheekily, and he huffs before pulling me in for a hug once more.
"Can you not almost die for like a week or so?" He jokes but when I look at him I see the underlying turmoil. Kol can be reckless when fear takes hold and I reach for his hand.
"I will do my best. Kol, you know that you're not responsible for me right. I know I was reckless when we met but this isn't that." I joke, and he laughs.
"It's not responsibility Ellie. What is a world without the people you love in it?" His reversal of words makes me stop and pull him down for a tight hug. We stay embraced for far longer than we ever have before he starts to laugh into my hair.
"When this is past we will be on the first plane to Africa." Kol huffs out pulling me back towards the house.
"Elijah might behead me for reading this even with your permission." He comments waving the book at me once more and I frown.
"Burn it when you are done Kol." I reply, and he nods before pulling the door open. Elijah stands in the same spot we had left him in and Kol closes the door staying outside. I frown at him through the glass and he waves the book around before turning to sit on the steps.
"You intend to let him finish it?" Elijah asks when I lean against the fridge in front of him. I look him over, the exhaustion and anger he radiates now pulling at my heart.
"He holds many of my secrets already; what's a few more?" I reply and watch his brow shoot up for a moment. I take a step towards him and smile softly.
"There are things I would rather discover on my own. He knows that and will find anything useful for my…... endeavors without my life being laid out for me." I try to joke, and he shakes his head slightly.
"He told you of the vision?" He asks softly, and I lean against the counter next to him.
"Not really what she saw exactly but what it contained." I answer diplomatically, and he nearly does a very Elijah unlike thing and rolls his eyes.
"Of the beasts made of fire and ash?" He questions turning to look at me, his hip leaning against the counter. The closeness making me long for a time before we declared dividing lines. Fire and Ash beasts?
"Of my death." I say softly and his eyes close before he decides he is unhappy with the distance between us and leans his forehead into the side of mine causing my eyes close.
"He did say she made it seem like my fate could be changed." I whisper, and he nods slowly sighing into my neck.
"I have no plans of perishing Elijah. This changes nothing though." I answer, and he sighs harder this time; in frustration.
"You will not be swayed from the road you currently travel?" He whispers, and I shake my head slightly and he gives a dark chuckle almost identical to his brothers. Despite the similarities in the sound it brings different feelings soaring up where his brother's comforts me.
"I told Racheal a story of a human woman. To strong to look past and to compassionate to forget." I smile softly wondering where he is going, my throat constricting at the conflicting feelings he is bringing up in me. "I must add dedicated to a fault to the list." He jokes before placing a kiss on my forehead and stepping back from me.
"I am sorry. I know you worry for me, but I can't turn a blind eye where …. well the world is at stake." I comment as he stares at me before a crooked smile pulls at his face, a smile I have longed to see in my dreams.
"There are no better hands for the world to be in than yours Astivinur." He says making me throw caution to the wind and lean in to hug him to me. Some how a blonde haired mans face flashes through my mind and I push past the conflicting feelings I am warring with when Elijah returns the hug. I can worry for my heart when the world is safe.
"Do you remember anything from when you were asleep?" He asks making me step back.
"What do you mean?" Only the nightmarish scenes that have plagued me since…... the farm house.
"A demon attempted to bind you. To take your power." He answers making me shake my head before I get a flash of Adair's upturned face with black eyes.
"Adair." I utter trying to remember anything else.
"The priest is safe, you set him free and he is with your family in Mystic Falls." The words sync in slowly and I watch his jaw tick; knowing there is more he doesn't want to tell me.
"Adair informed us they were following Jeremy. He and the others are there as well." My eyes slam shut and my fist clench tightly. This was not what I left for. He was supposed to have the normal college experience. I rant to myself feeling the anger rise in me.
"You have done everything right by your brother Elena." Elijah says before I feel his hand drifting up and down my back.
"He has a life there, a business starting. He will never find that someone if he is constantly fleeing my enemies." I ground out.
"He has and will continue to thrive in life; no matter what comes your way." He says, and I nod.
"Would you like to call him?" He holds his phone out and I take it without missing a beat.
Entering the number, I turn to Elijah before hitting send. "I have missed you." I say softly before fleeing the kitchen to be away from him after my moment of weakness but not before I see the way his eyes flare to life.
Elijah's POV
I watch her stir and wait patiently for her to rise. She seems so taken with the brothers she over looks our presence. I watch with mounting anguish as she tends to them. Conflicted watching her share a more than intimate moment with Dean Winchester. I know she tends to be affectionate with all those in her life but when the hunter pulls her down into a lazy embrace the words written in that journal seem to scream from the back of my head. I damn myself for worrying on matters of the heart when the world is at stake, when she is closer to death than ever before.
It all seems hopeless as I watch her relax into the hunter. Like my brother, Dean Winchester does not seem to hold himself in check. I realize now, after she rises and catches me watching her kiss the hunter that I will have to let her go. Something I thought I would never do, but if her happiness lies with Winchester than I will let her chase it. As always, she enters the room with a sad smile trying to appear upbeat. She will carry the misfortune laid before her no matter how hard we plead for her not to.
Because Elena has always been a fighter, a warrior ready to take on any enemy, but at heart she is the martyr her brother painted. A woman walking into the fray with little care for her life as long as she secures the lives of those she loves. As Kol drags her from the house I fume. An internal struggle on what is the best course of action. I wait, debating if I should be honest with her, tell her of my unyielding devotion to her, of the way she makes my dead heart feel alive or if I should walk beside her when she needs a friend and keep her at arms distance.
My heart decides in an instance when she returns, and I feel as if I should run. As she speaks freely with me I give into the sorrow and lean into her. The heat from her body and thrum of her voice calming the storm within me. I will have waited a thousand years for someone like her, someone who puts family above all else and doesn't loose themselves along the way. I feel wounded as she speaks of her death, knowing that no matter how much I distance myself, I would not survive if she faded from this world. My body would live on, but I would be a shell of a man; chasing memories of dusty forests and haunting melodies.
"I have missed you." As the words leave her mouth my world tilts on its axis and I know everything I just tried to convince myself will never be thought again. I can not let her go any more than I could leave my brother behind.
Dean's POV
I wake somehow feeling more exhausted, feeling something shift beside me I turn to find Elena asleep between the couch and me. The area is small, and she appears to be shrinking in on herself. I pull the blanket off me and drape it over her, noticing Sam still resting on the couch I get up slowly. Stretching my tired muscles, I note it is still very early, the sky still dark outside the windows. I make my way into the kitchen and find Elijah sitting at the table by himself. The man nods silently before turning back to his phone.
"Where did your brother run off too?" I ask looking around the kitchen for something to drink. Spotting a glass, I fill it with water and down the glass quickly. Filling it a second time before sitting down with the stoic vampire.
"He is doing some research." He replies as I shake my head looking at the ugly wallpaper.
"He didn't strike me as a research kind of guy." I say as the back door opens and the man in question enters. Kol gives me a mirthful grin confusing me greatly before pulling the fridge open to retrieve some blood.
"Now brother no need to be sour about her allowing me to read it." Kol comments making me frown at the pair.
"Read what?" I ask and Elijah sighs from across the table.
"The tale of Elena. Tidbits of times past and still to come." Kol answers as if he is reading a sales pitch for a new novel; obviously to irritate his brother.
"Anything good in it?" I joke to them draining the water glass in front of me.
"Many good things hunter." He says tossing the drained blood bag into the trash and resting against the counter.
"Good. She need to see some good news." I say running my hand over my head in exhaustion. Maybe her good news will rub off onto me.
"It's been burned already. Ellie didn't want to know anything unless it would help her with the fight." He says, and I can't stop the smile that pulls at my face when I look back into the front room where she rests.
"She does like surprises." I remark and am slightly taken back by the dark look Elijah is giving me. I stare him down for a moment, all to aware what this look is for. I should walk away but I feel this moment will be critical with the vampire, every instinct I have is telling me not to look away. Something shifts in the mans calculating face and he turns to look at his brother and I feel myself breathe deeply trying to calm my nerves.
"I will call Freya. See how preparations are going." Elijah comments before rising and leaving out the door his brother just entered.
"What exactly will be happening in New Orleans?" I ask when Kol replaces his brother at the table across from me. Kol watches me for a moment, his eyes full of mischief.
"With luck on our side we will connect Ellie to the barres of the past. Which in theory will increase her power; much like when a witch does it." Kol still watching me closely. Something that is making my teeth grind despite the time I have spent around the man.
"Well you read her story. Will your theory be correct?" I ask hoping for a break in the storm we are currently stuck in.
"No such luck mate. It had more anecdotes than useful information." He says never taking his eyes from me and I grunt before shifting my weight; willing my body to relax.
"Relax Winchester. Ellie rarely fails and more often than not, comes out on top." He says, and my hackles rise.
"Didn't seem to come out on top of staying human." I comment harshly. What the fuck is wrong with me? I can't seem to get away from these two staring fucks and it's making me hostile. Unamused I watch as Kol laughs darkly.
"Nope. That she did not. No let me rephrase, she always pulls through." The man rises and exits the back door to join his brother and I return to the floor huffing as I attempt to find sleep beside her. I turn to look at her and jump back when I find her watching me.
"Damnit Elena." I grind out and she chuckles.
"Kol is trying to bring you into his circle. It may not seem like it, but he is excepting you." She whispers, and I sigh.
"Staring me into oblivion will not achieve that." I say, and she giggles, the sound making my chest tighten as my body relaxes. I watch her shake her head and wait for an answer.
"It worked for you Dean Winchester." She replies before she leans her face into my shoulder hiding it from view. I can feel her sigh more than hear it and relax into her.
"The day we met I thought you were trying to blink me from existence." She mumbles and I breakdown laughing along with her.
"Actually, I wanted you to sprout wings and fly far, far away." I dead pan, and she scoffs before hitting me.
"Dean." She says before we hear a door creaking open. The woman and her granddaughter appear, and Elena rises slowly to meet them.
"Hello." She says keeping her distance and I rise to join the awkward trio.
"Hello Elena." The old woman says voice full of affection and maybe…. sadness.
"I owe you a great deal from what I hear. If there is anyway I can repay y…." The old woman cuts Elena off with a hand in the air.
"I need to show you something child. Are you ready to see?" Elena nods as Elijah and Kol step back into the house quietly behind them.
"Come. Let's sit." She waves Elena into the kitchen and Elena paces behind her as she takes a seat.
"Would you care to sit?" She waves at the empty chair, but Elena shakes her head.
"I must admit I am a little nervous. Standing is best." She says before stepping in front of the woman. Ella takes the empty chair. Elena reaches out grasping the old woman's hands, her knees slam into the floor a moment later. My heart races as I step forward and Elijah crushes the pan beside him before turning from the pair. Kol catches me watching his brother but I see the small shake of his head. Elena's back straightens before she chuckles. The sound odd when everyone is so tense.
"Seems I need to get to work." She says trying to lighten the mood. The older woman's face tightens before she grabs Elena's hand once more. Elena laughs, and tears pour down her face. I don't miss the way Elena looks to Ella briefly when she is pulled from the vision.
"That is just for you my dear. I hope you understand why; these old bones won't keep up forever." The lady grounds out, her voice breaking slightly. I watch Elena latch onto her and whisper to the woman. Whatever is said makes Kol chuckle before he leaves the room, pulling his brother behind him. They break apart with watery smiles.
"Where will you go from here?" Elena asks the woman and Ella scoffs while the woman shrugs.
"We have been working towards this moment, towards aiding you. There really wasn't a plan for after." Ella comments sadly and Elena turns to the girl from her spot.
"No place to call home? To rest your head?" Elena asks making the older woman chuckle and I watch as the pair seem to share in some secret.
"Uh, there is an apartment, well probably not anymore. We have been gone for so long." I watch Elena smile at them both sadly before rising to her feet.
"Well, if you would allow it I have a home you are more than welcome too. There is also an apartment we are not using if you would prefer your privacy." The girl is shaking her head no when the older woman hushes her.
"That sounds lovely child. We would appreciate any assistance." Her granddaughter huffs at her words but Elena grabs my hand excitedly before yanking me from the room. I am shocked at her behavior when she starts silently jumping when she is out of sight, hands in the air as if she just won the lottery. She turns and latches onto me finally giving into giggles and I hold her with an amused face.
"You okay?" I whisper as she tries to contain herself. When she pulls back to look at me her eyes are tear filled but I have never seen such happiness radiate from her. Where they wrong? Would she not perish? My heart thunders in hope but she leans in to whisper in my ear.
"Jeremy and Ella will fall madly in love. They will wed and have children and …..." I feel her head hit my shoulder as the tears fall; wetting my shirt making me squeeze her a little tighter. Not the good news I was wanting.
"And he will have a normal life with her?" I answer quietly knowing that's what she wants more than anything else in this world. She nods the news apparently too much for her addled brain to handle.
"That's wonderful." I whisper, and she laughs into my chest and I feel my eyes drift shut as she leans into me. This feeling, this overwhelming calm and right nous as she cries on me makes me long for the normal life that her brother will be granted. I berate myself at the idea, because if I had a normal life Elena wouldn't be pressed into me and I would have nothing to long for.
