I do not own TVD or TO.
MARCH
Elena looked up from her journal when the door opened to admit Amara. Closing the book she set it on her nightstand and sat up in the bed. Part of her still found it jarring that there was someone else in the world wearing her face that didn't want her dead.
"Hey," she approached the bed, "can I sit?"
Elena nodded, moving her legs over to make room for Amara. They sat in silence for a few moments before Amara sighed.
"You've been avoiding me."
Elena ran her tongue over her teeth.
"I don't really know how to interact with you." She shrugged one shoulder. "I've never had a sister."
"You have Caroline," Amara pointed out, "the two of us used to be as close as the two of you."
"Maybe we'll get there again," Elena managed a small smile.
"I hope so," Amara hummed, "I've missed my sister."
"Sorry," Elena frowned.
"It's alright; it's hardly your fault." Amara met her eyes and smiled. "I thought we might try something."
Elena pressed her lips together. The last person who had tried something had given her a nasty headache and triggered a bout of morning sickness.
"It won't hurt," Amara held up her hands. "You know I'm essentially a vampire, but stronger."
"Yeah…"
"I thought I might show you a few memories of mine," she smiled hopefully. "Caroline taught me."
Elena blinked while considering the offer. She'd had immortals in her head before and knew the process was painless. After a moment she nodded, moving over when Amara took a seat beside her against the headboard and taking her hand.
She looked down to her small hands before meeting Amara's eyes. They were sitting cross legged in the grass with a pile of flowers between them that they were twisting into flower crowns.
Bright sunlight streamed down warming her olive skin.
She couldn't see her own face, but judging by Amara's features she guessed that they were perhaps six or seven years old.
"Where are we?"
Amara threaded a purple flower into her crown and nodded behind them to a villa straight out of a Greek myth.
"We're home, Ellie," she smiled. "You and I grew up here. We would gather herbs for mother in that garden, and play games behind the house. We'd share pomegranates from that tree."
Her eyes followed the line of Amara's nod before lighting on a field beyond them. Overgrown grass rose upwards and she just knew that they would cover her head if she were to stand up.
"What about that?"
Amara smiled when she saw where Elena's eyes had gone.
"That's the field," she hummed, "it belonged to the Gemini coven; they spelled it so no one could use magic inside. You got lost in there once."
"I did?"
"Yes," Amara nodded. "We were playing a game, I believe they call it hide and seek in the twenty-first century, and you always found me because you could always sense me. I decided to try and trick you by stepping into the field, just three feet. You figured it out, but before I could stop you, you disappeared into the grass. It was the day you met Kol; he was tall and could see the way back."
"I was so jealous when you came home with a new friend. Your smile was so bright, and you were holding his hand so tightly; I thought you were going to leave me behind."
"I'd never leave you behind," she met Amara's eyes.
"I know that now," Amara smiled, "but I was only six years old at the time and very possessive of my twin sister."
Elena looked down at the flower crown in her lap for a moment.
"What else did we do?"
"We used to switch places," Amara giggled, the sound was full of a childish innocence because of their current form. "Father always fell for it, but Mother never did. That's part of the reason I always liked Kol," she explained when Elena frowned, "he could always tell us apart."
She got to her feet and reached for Elena's hand.
Elena blinked when she stood and saw that they were adults again.
"Longer legs," Amara smirked.
Elena fell into step with Amara and watched as they walked along a well-worn path. Villas rose on either side leading down to cerulean blue waters. Everything was familiar and foreign.
"Father taught us to swim along the shore," she nodded to the sea, "and mother taught you magic; she tried to teach me, but I was a less than ideal student."
She sighed when she saw the amused glance.
"I was terrible," Amara admitted, "and you were a protégé. Mother always insisted I'd get better with practice, but I never thought I'd be as good as you, so I gave up; I didn't like feeling inferior, so I left you to your magic and pursued other interests."
"I made you feel inferior," Elena frowned.
"You didn't mean to," Amara smiled sadly, "which made me feel terrible for being upset with you because you were so nice about it and so excited about your magic."
Amara cleared her throat a moment later and spun around so she was walking backwards up a gentle slope.
"Do you want to see where you used to live?"
"I thought that was it?" Elena glanced back over her shoulder.
"That's where we lived," Amara followed her gaze, flashing a teasing smile. "Did you think you stayed with us after getting married?"
She ran her fingers over the dry foliage, blinking slowly; it was an energy coursing through her veins, an energy that pulsed weakly.
Her throat tightened with a sob that she struggled to swallow back down. There was no use crying over a dead plant, plants died; it was a part of life, but her eyes still welled with tears.
She blamed the hormones.
She had been at the compound for a month. Jeremy had wanted her to come back to Mystic Falls, but even without knowing what had driven her away she had felt no inclination to return to the town that had taken so much from her. She had wanted to move on and her brother had supported that decision, and she wanted to stay with Kol and learn the extent of what had happened; though she suspected he would have taken her anywhere she wanted to go.
So she chose New Orleans. She chose his family because she had already taken him from them once and she wouldn't do that again. Besides, she knew Jeremy wouldn't want to stay in town either and she didn't want to be a reason for him to remain; she didn't want to tie him down.
She lifted her eyes from the dying flower in her hand and blinked away the moisture, but she knew he had seen it when he sat on the edge of the fountain with her.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Klaus sat Hope on his knee.
Elena blinked away her tears and shook her head, embarrassed to admit what was upsetting her.
"I'm fine." She cursed herself when her voice trembled.
Hope reached over, grasping at Elena's hand and the greenish blue stone on her ring.
Elena managed a small smile when Hope tried to pull her hand to her mouth. She was such a sweet child.
"You're not fine, love," he sighed, bouncing his daughter gently on his leg. "Come on," he prompted with a smirk, "out with it; I'll not have a sobbing pregnant woman in the courtyard… again."
She licked her bottom lip and tilted her head. Klaus was the Mikaelson she had interacted with the least since coming to New Orleans, mainly because he was often busy caring for his child, but it still surprised her when he seemed to genuinely care about her wellbeing; she knew it had nothing to do with keeping her on his good side for blood either because her blood was useless to him.
"It's silly," she closed her fingers around the leaf in her palm, "you'll laugh."
"If that's the case should you not laugh as well?" He cocked an eyebrow.
The teasing tone had the opposite effect, bringing her tears back to the surface to spill over her cheeks.
Bloody hell, he set Hope on her feet and reached for Elena's shoulder.
Kol paused in the door and tilted his head.
"Nik," he deposited his bag on a chair as he made his way to the fountain, "what did you do to my wife?"
"Why do you just assume I did something?" Klaus sighed.
Kol gave him a pointed look when he sat down and wrapped an arm around Elena's back. She turned her head into his neck and sobbed. She only cried harder when she felt a tiny hand pat her knee.
It took her a few minutes before she could choke out the response to their concerned questions.
"What's dead, darling?" Kol ran his fingers through her hair.
Her mumbled reply brought forth a deep chuckle from Klaus. Snapping up she turned to glare at him.
"Don't laugh at me."
Elena's eyes grew round when Klaus flew backwards into a pillar with enough force to create a crack in the stone. She covered her open mouth with her hand and felt Kol shift to catch a giggling Hope and keep her from falling onto the cobblestones.
"I'm sorry," she bit her lip as Klaus got to his feet.
"Perhaps it's time for some magic lessons," he brushed some dirt from his sleeves.
"I don't know," Kol lifted Hope into his arms, "I think the telekinesis was perfectly executed."
Elena worried her bottom lip while watching the people roaming over the streets. Here and there were individuals dressed for Mardi Gras in a variety of colourful costumes. Her shoulders hunched as they moved through the crowd.
"Are you sure about this?" She walked alongside Kol. "There are a lot of people out here."
"It'll be fine," he paused, turning back to meet her eyes. "Have a little faith, darling. I'm not going to have you practicing on the streets where anyone can see you. This might be New Orleans, but even here humans can only handle so much magic."
"Then where are you taking me?" She tilted her head.
"Somewhere safe," he smirked, "where it will be impossible to throw one of my siblings through a wall."
"Are you ever going to let me forget about that?" She swallowed her giggle.
"Sure," he chuckled, "as soon as I'm able to forget the look on Nik's face when he was flying through the air." He sobered a second later. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."
Elena bit her lip and blinked, eyes falling to his chest.
"I…" she inhaled through her nose, "… I should learn some control, so I can choose when I send Klaus through a wall," she smiled softly when he chuckled, dragging her eyes back to his face. She could see hope shimmering in his gaze.
"You want me to try," she murmured. "You hope it'll trigger something."
"I'm always hoping your memory comes back," he moved closer as the crowd increased, "that something will trigger… something."
She nodded, glancing around at the shuffling people and sighing.
"Is there going to be a crowd where we're going?"
"There shouldn't be."
"Okay," she nodded again, reaching for his hand. "Just don't let go of me. I'm scared I'll lose you in this crowd."
"I'll never let go of you, darling." He brought their joined hands up and pressed a light kiss to her knuckles.
The strange sense that she knew the path swept over her as they walked through the rows of tombs in a comfortable silence. She squeezed his hand when he came to a stop in front of a discoloured crypt.
She cast him a sideways glance when he opened the door with a wave of his hand.
"Isn't there a saying about following someone into a tomb?" She walked up the stairs slowly, following him into the darkened interior.
"Not that I've ever heard," he chuckled. Reaching out with his free hand he brought the candles and lamps to life with a murmured incantation.
Elena blinked when the room came into focus. Her eyes darted from the shelves lined with books to the antique gramophone and the crimson daybed pushed against a wall; a chemistry lab appeared to be set up on one of the tables.
She let go of his hand and ran her fingers along one of the tables.
"Have I been here before?"
With her eyes on the gramophone she missed the way his shoulders straightened at her question.
He struggled to keep his voice neutral.
"Many times."
Elena picked up a book from the table; it sat heavily in her hands. Her eyes darted around the repurposed crypt once more before finding Kol.
"Where do we start?"
He lifted a box from beneath the table and sat it on the table in front of her. Extracting a dead rose from the pile he took the book and placed the flower in her hands.
Elena blinked back a sudden wave of tears when she felt the weak energy pulsing in her hands. She lifted her eyes when Kol told her there had been a time when she could bring the plant back to life without a second thought; that he had seen her do so without trying in the past, but since she was 'new' to practicing magic he would teach her an incantation to help.
"Belle la vie a cette fleur, maintentant."
She watched as the daffodil he held in his hand came back to life. She closed her eyes to help concentrate and repeated the phrase; a tiny spark ran from her heart down her arm, but when she looked the flower had regained only the smallest amount of colour at the base of the stem.
"Did I say it wrong?"
"No, darling," he shook his head, "your pronunciation was perfect. Did you feel anything?"
Elena wasn't sure how to explain the dying energy and the spark running down her arm, but she tried.
"Why don't you try again?" He steadied her shaking hand. "This time concentrate on that spark."
"Why?" She tipped her head up.
"Because this spell takes some of your energy and uses it to save the flower and bring it back to life. It's essentially you sharing a bit of your life it."
"Maybe that's the problem," her eyes glittered with amusement, "I'm already sharing a lot of my energy with someone else."
"Sorry about that," his gaze fell to her abdomen, "though you were rather enthusiastic at the time."
Elena laughed before trying again. She kept her eyes closed and imagined the spark of energy rolling down her arm, increasing in power until it flowed from the tips of her fingers into the rose.
"Hmm," he hummed, "I guess you didn't need the spell after all."
Her heart nearly stopped when he lifted the bright red rose from her hand and nodded to the box on the table. Her eyes were wide when she looked down on the brightly coloured blossoms in the crate.
"How about something a little more complex?" Elena glanced up at him through her lashes. There was restlessness in her limbs, an excess of energy that she needed to do something with, a heat coursing through her veins.
"Sure," he nodded. He could feel the magic pulsing around her body like a magnet drawing him closer. Every inch of him craved her, he always had, but out of respect for her lost memories and confusion he had kept a physical distance and touched her only as he would have Rebekah.
He thought for a moment before nodding.
"I have an idea."
He jumped a foot in the air when he turned around. The pitcher of iced tea slipped from his hands to crash against the kitchen floor.
"Elena?"
She grinned from ear to ear and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"You're here?" He held her tight before taking a step back and meeting her eyes. "What are you doing here? I didn't hear the door open."
"I didn't come through the door, Jer," she smiled, "and technically I'm not really here."
"What are you talking about?" He frowned. "I can feel you."
"I'm…" She chewed over her words for a moment, "… I'm practicing. Kol's teaching me how to use my magic."
She could still feel his hands in hers, which she thought strange since her fingers were curled around Jeremy's arms, but she knew the magic flowing through her body was not coming from her brother.
"You're using magic?" Jeremy took a small step back to look at her. He decided not to question how she had journeyed to the house. "How long can you stay?"
"Not long," she shook her head, "he's anchoring me right now." The magic pulsed through her body spreading warmth over her, making her heart thump and her skin sizzle; Kol must have been able to feel it in her hands.
She fully intended to stay and talk for a few minutes at least, Kol had promised her ten, but the sound of a fist on the front door drew her attention.
"Expecting company?" She cocked an eyebrow. "I hope I haven't interrupted anything."
"You've been spending too much time with your husband," Jeremy rolled his eyes. He sighed when the door opened and a rush of air announced the arrival of a visitor in the kitchen.
"You know it's rude to keep people waiting."
"It's also rude to barge into someone's home," Jeremy snapped.
"I've been invited in," Damon smirked. His eyes widened when he spotted Elena. "You're back… where the hell have you been?" He glared at the ring on her finger. "What the hell have you been doing?"
Elena rolled her eyes and took a deep breath. She wasn't in the mood to deal with Damon right then, knowing he would dampen her spirits. She wanted to revel in the high overtaking her body. She wanted to visit her brother. She wanted to get far away from her ex-boyfriend and not think about the way his stare made her feel cold.
"That's really my business," she crossed her arms. She might not have known what had happened after she took the cure, but she vividly remembered him abusing his sire bond to manipulate her emotions, forcing her to calm down after Kol's death. The sudden image of his burning body, not three feet from where she stood, made her heart clench painfully.
"I'll call you later, Jer."
Jeremy followed his sister's gaze to the floor and nodded, knowing exactly where her mind was in that moment.
Damon gaped when Elena vanished from the kitchen.
Her eyes snapped open suddenly, body relaxing when she saw him: whole and unharmed. A few candles were overturned when she surged forward wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.
Kol blinked in surprise, but didn't hesitate to return her desperate hug. Running his hand up her spine he tangled his fingers in her dark hair.
"Are you alright, Ellie?"
She nodded against his neck but didn't let go, needing to feel him close, to banish the images of knifes and flames and lifeless eyes, to know he was alive.
And he was definitely alive. She could still feel magic rushing through him beneath the hand she held pressed to his neck; it was exhilarating.
"Promise me something?" She pulled back a few inches to meet his eyes, bringing her hand around to the side of his neck.
"Anything," he nodded.
"Don't die."
"I'll do my best," he searched her gaze questioningly. "Was everything alright in Mystic Falls?"
"Yeah," she brought her hand down his chest, popping the top buttons of his shirt and slipping her hand under the material.
"Darling?" His heart thumped beneath her palm. His hand slid down her spine to the small of her back.
She shivered, moving with him until her knees were on either side of his thighs.
She blinked at the sudden image of a different man beneath her hand, a man with piercing blue eyes and a familiar cheeky grin.
"Flattery will only get you so far, Kol Mikaelson." Her voice echoed in her mind.
She licked her lips, and saw his eyes drop to her mouth; heard the audible gulp he tried to hide. They had been back in New Orleans for a month and this was the most intimate position they had been in. That time had taken a toll on him, she could see it in his eyes; it had affected her as well.
Her body begged for his touch, a touch she knew he was holding back until she was ready; she was ready now.
With her right hand splayed over his chest she cupped his face with her left, feeling his heart jump beneath her palm as she leaned closer.
The first kiss was little more than a brush of lips.
He murmured her name against her mouth when she paused.
"Just kiss me, Kol," she shook her head. Her breath caught in her throat, stolen by the sweeps of his tongue; each one brought a brief image to her mind's eye.
She moaned when she felt the cool floor seep through the material of her shirt into her back.
Hooking her leg over his waist she met his eyes.
"Have we done this before?" She rolled her eyes when he cocked an eyebrow, glancing down. "I meant here."
Something flickered in his eyes.
"Once," she could see the smile he tried to hide.
"Once?" Her hand slipped beneath his shirt to splay over his back.
"Alright," he smirked, "three times in one afternoon."
"Three times, huh?"
"I've got excellent stamina," he chuckled.
"You're cocky aren't you?" She snickered.
"Extremely," he whispered, pressing her body into the floor he met her lips in a lingering kiss.
"Kol," she hummed, arching her neck to give him better access to her throat.
"Shall I stop, darling?"
"No," she sighed.
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