Chapter Fifty-Three: Options
"I didn't mean to interrupt," Rose said a little awkwardly as she stood in the doorway, "But I realised there is one way out of this."
"What?" Elena and Damon asked at the same time, both desperate.
"You could turn. Do what Katherine did." Elena had done nothing but think about this since she had learned the truth but she didn't want to let that on to Damon. She tried not to ever think about the possibility of becoming a vampire because it scared her- she wasn't sure what she wanted, except that she didn't want to have to make that decision right now, not under threat. Damon looked at her.
"I'd have to spend the rest of my life on the run," Elena said carefully, "Until Klaus caught up to me or until another doppelganger appeared. If that's another five hundred years…"
"You wouldn't have to run alone," Damon murmured, glancing at Rose.
"I might not make it as long as Katherine, Damon. Klaus could find me within an hour and kill us both." She saw the truth of her words hit him and the frown set in. She knew that he would rather take the risk and spend their lives on the run but she knew that wasn't who she was. Katherine had survived because she was unscrupulous and cruel- Elena couldn't be either of those things. Elena looked over at Rose.
"If you could choose all over again…" She said.
"I wouldn't want to spend my existence running," Rose admitted. That settled it between them.
"We just have to hide you from Klaus," Damon said decisively, "Somehow."
This conversation played over and over in Elena's mind for days afterwards. Her nightmares were back full blast but she didn't have Damon around to give her more pleasant dreams, so she was haunted by images of running through darkness only to hit endless walls at every turn. Because of this, she never slept deeply and that was probably why she woke up- she thought she heard a noise. She turned her head and squinted towards her bedroom door, which was slightly ajar, but nothing was amiss. Elena rolled over in bed with a sigh and shut her eyes- if she didn't get a decent amount of sleep one of these days she was going to lose her mind; she felt like she'd already started to. She was almost back to sleep when a door slammed somewhere in the house, jerking her awake again.
She slowly got out of bed and crept towards the door, opening it. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach the whole time. Out on the landing, Elena looked carefully around herself, looking for signs of anything out of place. Jeremy's bedroom door was slightly open and she moved towards it; that was when she heard a noise behind her. Her heart in her mouth, she span around as fast as she could only to find her face to face with an equally shocked looking Alaric. Realising her mistake, her hand went to her heart as if to steady it's pounding.
"Elena," Alaric gasped, clearing his throat. He lowered a bowl he was holding downwards and that was when she realised he was nude.
"I heard something," She muttered, still glancing nervously around herself. Alaric gave a nervous laugh.
"That was us," Jenna said, coming up the stairs. She was wearing Alaric's shirt and looked very embarrassed.
"We didn't think anybody else was up," Alaric muttered.
"But here you are," Jenna and Alaric blabbed on awkwardly for a while, trying to explain a situation which was painfully obvious to Elena. In all honesty, she was completely distracted by her relief that the sounds she had heard were completely normal. She made a mental note to herself as Alaric scampered off to stop being so paranoid- it wasn't healthy. "Are you sure it's okay?" Jenna was asking.
"Seems like things are good," Elena replied.
"They're extremely good," Jenna smiled warmly.
"Then I'm extremely okay with it." She went back to bed after this, her worries eased for now. Klaus wasn't in her house, waiting to snatch her away to perform the sacrifice needed to lift the curse. Jenna and Alaric were just enjoying their honeymoon period as a couple. Elena drifted off into a peaceful slumber for once and when morning came she felt well-rested- until she opened the door to both Salvatore brothers.
"Oh no," Was her automatic greeting. When Stefan and Damon arrived together it had to be bad news. Damon actually chuckled dryly.
"Hey, uh, can we talk?" Stefan asked her.
"Why?" Elena was already resigning herself to yet another bad day.
"We went to see Katherine," Damon replied. Tiredly, Elena stepped back to allow them to pass.
"Come on in."
Katherine had offered them the moonstone in exchange for her freedom from the tomb. Of course, it went against the grain to trust Katherine to keep her word, but Rose had said there was a way of destroying the spell that Klaus wanted to break if they had the moonstone. Elena thought it all over as they explained that Bonnie had already agreed to help, and was going to release the spell on the tomb long enough for them to get in, take the moonstone from Katherine, and get back out. The Salvatore's seemed excited by this plan, convinced it was going to work, but Elena didn't feel so sure.
"I don't want you to do it," She told them, once they'd finished explaining. Stefan and Damon both looked shocked to hear this.
"What are you talking about?" Stefan said, "Elena, we don't have a choice."
"What about Klaus?" Elena seriously doubted that the vengeful Original vampire was going to step aside to allow this plan to go ahead without a hitch.
"We'll find him right after we get the moonstone," Stefan told her. The fact that they had no idea how to track Klaus down didn't seem to enter into his mind at all.
"Is that before or after he kills everyone I care about, including the two of you?" Elena demanded, pointing at them. Her question stumped them momentarily, she could tell. Stefan looked at his brother as if to ask for help but Damon's blue gaze stayed on Elena. It was almost as if he wasn't surprised at all that Elena had taken this stance; he certainly understood her much better than Stefan did, even if he didn't like what he was hearing.
"Elena, if we can de-spell the moonstone we can save your life," Stefan told her, as if she wasn't following. But she understood what they wanted to do- it just seemed like there was no way they could pull it off.
"I know. Everybody keeps saying that." She walked out of the room. She was tired of needing to be saved, in all honesty, and if saving her put everybody else she cared about in the path of danger…
"Elena." She was unsurprised when Damon followed her up to her bedroom. The front door closed and she supposed that he had sent Stefan off so that he could talk to her. She was bustling around her room, tidying things up and not looking at him.
"Klaus isn't going to let this happen."
"Elena," Damon said her name again. She ignored him, continuing on her tornado-like path around her bedroom.
"The second you let that tomb spell down, Katherine is going to run and she's going to take the moonstone with her. And even if you succeed in getting the moonstone, Klaus will come and kill you before you find out how to break the spell. And then he will sacrifice me and the curse will be broken and…"
"Elena." Damon vamped in front of her and grabbed her arms, forcing her to come to a standstill. She tried to shake him off but he was too strong and so she gave up, looking at him. "I know you don't want to risk this. I know," He told her, "But I am not willing to risk losing you. And even if that's what happens anyway, at least I will know I did everything in my power to save you. I can't let Klaus get to you, Elena, and if I have to die to stop him…"
"It's not just about you, Damon! It's about Stefan, too, and Caroline and Tyler and Bonnie and… everybody, every single person I know and love. You know how scared Rose is of Klaus. Doesn't that give you an idea of what we're up against?" Elena stared at him beseechingly. She didn't want to die any more than he wanted her to, but she didn't think this plan was going to do anything but kill them all, in the end. There had to be another avenue for them to explore before it came to this. Damon let go of her arms and she saw his blue eyes flash in anger.
"This is out of your hands, Elena," He snapped, vamping out before she could speak, leaving a cold breeze behind him and an idea planted in Elena's mind. She grabbed her car keys and ran out of the house. She was supposed to be going to school that day but it was the last thing on her mind. The person she needed to see right then was Rose.
Damon was in a bad mood for the rest of the day. When he got back to the house, Rose was nowhere to be found, but he assumed that she had managed to get out and take cover somewhere. Bonnie and Jeremy came around to convene with him and Stefan.
"I might be able to lower the tomb spell long enough for you to get in there and grab the moonstone from Katherine," The witch was saying.
"How? It took both you and your Grams last time, and look what happened to her," Jeremy pointed out. Damon had to admit, his point was a good one- Sheila was dead because the spell had consumed her.
"I'm well aware of what happened," Bonnie replied, "I've learned a few new things…"
"Bonnie…" Jeremy began reluctantly.
"How will you get it?" Bonnie fired at Stefan, ignoring Jeremy. Damon wondered when those two had become so close.
"She hasn't been feeding," Stefan replied, "She's weaker. We're not." When they had spoken to Katherine the previous night, she had been too weak to stand without support. It would not be difficult to fight her for the moonstone in that condition. Bonnie frowned and Damon raised his glass of blood to her, causing her to pull a face.
"You wouldn't be underestimating her, would you?" The witch asked.
"It's a plan. Is it perfect?" Damon snorted, "What plan is?"
"Let me do it," Jeremy volunteered, glancing at Bonnie, "I've got my ring. I can get in, get out, no spells necessary." Pushing his curiosity about Jeremy's suddenly protective stance towards Bonnie, Damon stomped on that plan.
"Gee, thanks, you sixteen year old child. Why didn't we think about that?" Stefan gave him a dirty look for being rude to the younger Gilbert, but underneath it Damon was more than a little aware of the fact that Elena would never forgive them for allowing her little brother to stray into Katherine's path. The vampire could easily snatch Jeremy's ring off of him and then kill him, even in her weakened state. She'd be desperate for his blood, too.
"Maybe I can help better with the plan," Said Bonnie, "Do you have anything that belongs to Katherine?" Damon looked at Stefan. The only thing they still had that belonged to Katherine was the portrait of her. Damon remembered the night he had handed the picture to Elena, revealing her status as a doppelganger. They had come a long way since then. Stefan retrieved the picture and handed it to Bonnie.
"I found it with her things after I thought she was dead, but it was hers," Stefan explained off-handedly. Bonnie put the picture in a bowl and then dribbled water over it. The water turned into flames and she began chanting.
"What will this do?" Damon asked, watching. Bonnie opened her eyes.
"I can turn the metal into ash. Blow the ashes on her and it'll incapacitate her for a minute or two, long enough for you to get the stone and get out." Damon was actually quite impressed by this- Bonnie had clearly done a lot of studying since she'd first realised she was a witch, and had grown a lot more competent with her magic.
He and Stefan returned once more to the ruins of Fell's Church. Damon was officially sick of the place, although he still got a sense of satisfaction from the fact that Katherine was now locked up where she was supposed to have been all along- and she wasn't getting out.
"Do you think this is going to work?" Stefan asked him.
"It has to," Damon didn't want to think about the alternatives. Bonnie arrived then and the three of them descended into the tomb. As Damon headed down the steps, his phone began to ring. He pulled it out and saw that it was Rose ringing him.
"Not a good time, Rose," He told her, by way of greeting.
"Don't be angry with me," She said, sounding a little nervous. Damon sighed.
"Why, what did you do?"
"You need to get to Richmond immediately."
A/N: Sorry that this is a little shorter than usual, I don't really want to drag on with all the canon stuff as I said in the last chapter. Anyway, as usual, reviews are very welcome! More is on the way!
