"What can we do?" Elijah asked, looking down into his friend's pained face

"Water," Misha whispered, trying to straighten as he opened his eyes, "I need water."

Elijah nodded

"I'll go to the kitchen and get some," Katherine offered, rising to her feet from where she had crouched next to them.

"Wait." Elijah said turning to her, "he means alot of water. We need to put him in the bathtub. Water—it acts as a natural conduit for spells. He can use it to funnel his remaining energy and block my Mother."

Misha close his eyes in acknowledgement as Katherine gave him a short nod.

"Where's the closest bathroom?" she asked

"Upstairs," Elijah said and in a flash Katherine disappeared with vampire speed up the staircase.

Elijah turned back to Misha, reaching forward and sitting his friend fully upright, causing Misha to moan uncomfortably and let out a discomforting cough.

"Come on," the original said as he gently wrapped Misha's right arm around his neck, "let's get you upstairs before you lose consciousness."

Misha nodded weakly as Elijah hoisted him unsteadily to his feet.

As he gained his balance, Misha brought his free hand to Elijah's chin and let out a gasp of painful effort as he took hold of his friend's face and turned it toward him, forcing Elijah to meet his gaze.

Elijah's brow furrowed as he studied Misha's face—a face that was suddenly brimming with what seemed like a thousand different emotions.

Misha opened his mouth to speak when Katherine suddenly appeared before them at the bottom of the stairs.

"The water is running. Do you need help?" she asked, stepping forward

Elijah broke away from Misha's trance and looked over to her.

"If you could grab his other shoulder, that will distribute the weight and we'll carry him up together."

Katherine nodded as she descended the last few stairs and brought Misha's left arm around her neck.

"We need to go fast before he looses consciousness."

Katherine nodded again

"On the count of three…" Elijah said, then turned to Misha who closed his eyes as if he was going to be sea sick, "one…two…three!"

Suddenly, in a flash, they were in the upstairs hallway in front of the bathroom door, but as they moved forward, Elijah fell, releasing his hold on Misha as he collapsed against the doorframe.

"Elijah?" Katherine cried in a worried tone as Misha swayed, his weight falling unbalanced on Katherine.

Elijah took a deep breath to steady himself. He wasn't sure how he had fallen. He just felt so dizzy all of a sudden. How could he suddenly be so weakened?

He quickly saw the predicament Katherine was in and pulled himself shakily to his feet, still holding on to the frame for support.

After a moment, he reached out and grabbed Misha's arm again, swinging it over his neck, pulling him back to even out his weight.

"Are you alright?" Katherine asked concerned

"I'm fine," he said in an unconvincing voice—he sure as hell didn't feel fine, but he couldn't leave his friend in the state he was in and couldn't very well leave Katherine to do it all herself. He looked to Misha's face as it started to pale and his neck muscles loosened, causing his head to roll forward. He saw that his old friend was fading fast, "We need to get him into the tub."

"You need to rest," Katherine protested, "I can tell you haven't fed in at least two days, and that trip up the stairs probably didn't do you any good. You're weak, Elijah—"

"I'll rest when he's in that water," Elijah interjected, nodding toward the filled tub, "now, come on."

Katherine rolled her eyes as they sauntered across the Mexican tile toward the Edwardian style bathtub.

Without saying a word, they worked like clockwork.

Katherine nodded to Elijah and he nodded back in acknoweldgement before she gently unfolded herself from under Misha as Elijah turned and bore the full weight of his friend with a grimace as Katherine worked quickly, unbuttoning the back of Misha's green emerald dress and peeling it off of him, revealing nothing but grey jockey shorts.

She tossed the dress aside and immediately took up part of Misha's weight again, eliciting a groan of relief from Elijah.

Katherine was right. He was fading as fast as Misha had.

Elijah hadn't worried much about it until now, but after his confrontation with Kol and everything else he had been through in the last twenty-four hours, he needed blood.

Misha was completely unconscious when they lowered him into the hot water, Katherine taking care to remove his Jimmy Chu high heels.

As his feet followed into the water, Misha eyes opened wide within seconds and he let out a loud, quick gasp as if something had shocked him awake.

Elijah took a seat on the edge of the tub

"Misha?"

Misha blinked slowly, "She's gone. I can't feel her anymore, but she didn't leave empty handed."

"What do you mean?" Elijah asked narrowing his eyes

Misha took in a breath, "She knows that it's too dangerous and conspicuous to channel my energy after what happened with the other members of my family, so she took all my spiritual energy—she's stockpiling it and not for rainbows and ticker tape parades, it can tell you that much."

Elijah sat back, as his mind was suddenly overwhelmed with a million thoughts.

"Elijah?" Katherine asked, placing a tentative hand on his shoulder

"Katerina, would you mind making us some tea. Our friend is going to be in this porcelain prison for sometime. I could also use some blood—"

Misha turned his head in Katherine's direction.

"Tea is in the pantry, blood bags are in the deep freezer in the cellar." He said in a weak voice, "And a chocolate bar would also be much appreciated."

Elijah smirked

Katherine released Elijah's shoulder and nodded, "Alright. I'll be back in a few minutes."

She then turned and left the room.

A short silence fell over them as Misha closed his eyes and Elijah looked over his shoulder to make sure Katherine was really gone before he leaned forward and brought his hands together, rubbing them nervously.

"You're worried," Misha finally said, turning toward Elijah as he opened his eyes again, "you should be. I've seen what your Mother is up to."

Elijah swallowed as he looked into his friend's face, "And?"

Misha winced as he tried to sit up in the tub, leaning on the side frame for support as he pulled himself in front of Elijah.

"Jeg skal vise dere," he said as he reached a wet hand from the water and brought it up to rest on the left temple of Elijah's forehead.

Elijah's felt his body jolt and his eyes flutter as images immediately flooded his mind.

Esther bumping into Katherine casually on a street at nightfall in Chicago and striking up a conversation with her…

Esther watching as Elijah converses with Stefan Salvatore, then enters the Mystic Falls bank…

Liliya placing the ring on his finger a thousand years ago, "Now you are bound to me"…

Esther standing in front of the Salvatore vault in the Mystic Falls cemetery—the image of it overlapping with an image of the village where they lived a thousand years ago…

Niklaus' eyes glowing yellow and his features changing as his sinks his fangs into Liliya's neck in front of the ritual fire as Finn and Kol struggled to restrain Elijah, who is screaming and trying to free himself from the tree his father had tied him to…

Esther watching through the window of Klaus' mansion as Rebekah took the bag of white oak stakes from Stefan Salvatore and Klaus threatened him for the final stake…

Esther revealing herself to Rebekah in the den and taking her hands before falling onto the floor and Rebekah turning to Niklaus, "She's dead"…

Rebekah standing in front of Alaric Saltzman in the cave, Alaric holding one of the white oak stakes in his hand, "I don't want one original to die…I want them all to die." Alaric's shocked expression, "You're not Rebekah." Rebekah letting a small smile escape her lips, "No, my name is Esther and we have a great deal in common"…

Elijah took a deep breath as he felt Misha's hand move away from his temple and he opened his eyes.

He shook his head, trying to get his bearings back as Misha lowered himself tiredly back into the bathtub.

"My sister?" Elijah asked, his voice cracking with emotion

"She's only a vessel. She's safe for now. Esther will not kill her yet, she'll discard her soon so that she can be in her human form to use my energy to produce her piece de resistance."

"And what is that?"

Misha closed his eyes and continued in a weak voice, "It seems that Niklaus has found a way to unbind you and your siblings, rendering Esther's original spell null and void. Esther knows this and she's found another way to end your lives, but like I said before, she also knows that you didn't originally drink the wine for the original spell. You would have felt the effects of the dagger, but had she succeeded in killing your siblings, the first time around, you would have not stayed dead. She's your Mother, boy, she created you and she knows that you are clever and smarter than the others. You are also strong and a good fighter an you will be the hardest one to kill, especially now that you have to be staked."

"She's going to use the last white oak stake?" Elijah asked, confused, recalling Esther's memory of Stefan, Klaus and Rebekah with stakes and Klaus knowing that Stefan was with-holding one.

How on earth was his Mother going to pull off staking all of them, especially since, according to legend and what Damon had told him about his father's demise, the stake burned up in the victim.

Misha smirked sadly, "Oh, she's found a way. She's also found a way to bind you to the one original that everyone wants dead."

"Niklaus," Elijah whispered

Misha nodded slowly, then cast his eyes down to the ring on Elijah's hand.

"She is binding you through the connection you both had with Liliya. The ring you're wearing was forged with silver from the earth where Mystic Falls sits—where all three of you were born. You loved Liliya—you were soul mates and that kind of bond leaves a mark on both persons' souls and beings and when Niklaus killed Liliya in the ceremony my Mother and Esther used to bind his werewolf side, whether you know it or not, her death caused a supernatural link between you and Niklaus that exists to this day. Before Esther took over Katherine's body and led you back to the ring, she spelled it so that when you put the ring back on, it would make the link stronger. As long as you are wearing it, the link between you and Niklaus is cemented. If she succeeds in killing Klaus or someone else beats her to it—"

Elijah let out a staggered breath as he looked down to the ring, "I die."

Misha closed his eyes and nodded.

There was a moment of silence as both of them let the revelation fall over the room.

Finally, Misha opened his eyes and watched Elijah silently twirl the silver ring on his pinky finger in contemplation.

"I think you should take it off." Misha whispered with raised eyebrows

Elijah released the ring and straightened, casting a stern gaze on his friend.
"

No." he said, "He's my brother, Misha. If it is meant to be, then so be it."

Misha opened his mouth to protest, but suddenly Katherine entered the room carrying a mug of tea in her right hand with a Hershey's chocolate bar entwined in the fingers and two blood bags in her left hand.

As she surveyed the faces in the room, she furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Okay…did I miss something? You're acting like someone's just died."

Elijah cleared his throat as he stood from his position on the side of the tub and took the blood bags from her.

"Nothing—it's nothing...Misha was just going to tell me what he knows about the Original bloodlines."