Spring Break arrived and with it, the mission to stop Silas from wrecking havoc and to save Amara from her wretched existence.
"Shall we?" Elijah held the car door open for her.
"Let's help this guy find peace and remove a few years of trouble from our lives." Elena shook her chin length hair out of her face and slid into her seat.
Elijah closed the door behind her and then, a few seconds later, he got behind the wheel, backing out into the driveway. Almost before she was ready, they were driving down the road. They were actually doing this. They were going to change the world.
As the car sped down the road, Elena leaned her head against the car door and felt herself drifting away into… something.
Elena looked around to find herself surrounded by darkness. She knew this darkness. This was that endless darkness she'd encountered during her last episode. Malivore..
"Hello?" she called. Someone was here, she could feel it. "Who's there?"
She kept walking, searching for the reason, a person most likely, that she was supposed to meet here in this oppressive silence. After a long time, she heard footsteps and she turned around.
"How are you here? Those trapped here exist in total solitude. You shouldn't be able to be here." The young man with dark, curly hair she'd caught a brief glimpse of before approached her slowly, his expression confused, scared almost.
"I don't know. Sometimes I have dreams and I see things, or I'm led to people who will help me in the future."
"What are you?"
"I'm a witch."
"You're more than that if you're here."
"What is this place? Is this Malivore?" Elena chose not to give him the exact details of what she was, just in case
"How do you know about Malivore?"
"I can't tell you that, not yet. But I can tell you my name. It's Elena Gilbert. What's your name?"
"Whatever I need it to be. I don't have one that's truly mine."
"Ryan Clarke," Elena said, recalling the name from somewhere deep inside her mind, the place where the spirits gave her information she needed to know.
"Then Ryan Clarke I will be."
"I'm not sure how I can help you just yet, but I do know that I wouldn't be here without a reason. The spirits of nature wanted me to meet you. The question is, why?"
"I know him better than anyone else does."
After murmuring a protection spell, so Malivore couldn't hear what they were discussing, just in case this was more than just a dreamscape, Elena asked, "How do you know Malivore so well?"
"He created me, formed me from mud, then used some of his own body to bring me to life, but I was a failure, because I don't have his powers and can't launch the species like he wanted," his lips curled around the phrase 'launch the species' as though it was a poison.
"You're sterile," Elena guessed.
"Yes," His expression hardened even further as he tried to hide how much it hurt.
"There's no shame in that. You have no control over what your body is capable of in that regard and it doesn't mean that you're less than."
"Now, if only my father agreed with you." Ryan snorted once, then one side of his mouth curled up and he said, "You're far too kind, considering what I am."
"You can't help what you were born as, but you can help who you become from here on out. Perhaps your knowledge is the reason I've been brought to you," Elena mused. "You and I can help each other figure out a way to take out Malivore."
"Only the ones who created him can take him out. He's indestructible. His current state was the best we could do." Ryan's face twisted in frustration and he waved his hand around himself to indicate the darkness.
"Nature doesn't allow a true immortal to exist because it upsets the balance, so there's always a loophole. We find that loophole, we take out Malivore, while ensuring you stay alive, because if he created you, you are essentially a part of his sire line, so if we destroy him, there's a chance you die too."
"Why care about me?"
"The spirits led me to you for a reason and besides, I don't like using people and then discarding them when I'm done. If you help me take out Malivore, I'll make sure you stay alive, separate from him."
"To be free of him completely, that would be a dream come true," Ryan's voice trembled and he lowered his head.
On impulse, Elena wrapped her arms tightly around him. The tall man stiffened, then crumpled, shuddering in her embrace.
"You are worthy of being cared about and I'll be your friend, if you like."
"Thank you," Ryan choked out.
"Elena?"
Elena turned towards the voice, Elijah.
"Who is that?"
"Elijah Mikaelson. He's my um, the word 'boyfriend' is a little childish considering who he is, but yeah, we are together and I'd like to spend the rest of my life with him." Elena laughed a little, then her smile faded, replaced with something akin to an apology. "But if I can hear him, it means that my body is waking up."
"So, it's time for you to leave, isn't it? I'll be alone again, with just my father for company." Ryan sagged, disappointed.
"I think so. I'm not sure if I'll be able to visit again. I don't have control over things like this, but know that I'll be trying to get you out. I have no intention of leaving you alone in the dark for much longer. And when thinks feel hopeless, remember that you've got someone on the outside, trying to save you." Elena squeezed his arm.
"Thank you. I know I keep saying it, but I've never had anyone care about me like this before."
"I guess it's the mom in me."
"Whoever has you for a mother would be very lucky indeed."
His words twisted her heart and she swallowed down the emotions that rose in her chest, clogging her throat. If she was going to stay with Elijah, there were so many things that needed to be worked out before she could even think about being a mother.
The tugging grew stronger. "See you soon, Ryan Clarke."
Elena jerked awake, back into her own body and looked over at Elijah. It was dark now, the landscape she could make out in the shadows as they passed it, unfamiliar. Just how long had she been searching in the dark for Ryan before she found him? Because they didn't talk long enough for that much time to have elapsed.
"Where were you?"
"I met one of Malivore's progeny. He's agreed to help us once we find a way to free him from being locked inside Malivore."
"Can you trust him?" Elijah glanced at her, worry furrowing his brows.
"I think so. The spirits wouldn't have led me to him without a good reason otherwise."
Elijah's phone buzzed and he lifted it to his ear. "Hello."
There was a pause.
"Of course."
He pressed the end button and slid it back into his jacket pocket.
"What's going on?" Elena asked.
"Bonnie and Sheila would like to stop for the night."
"Oh. Right. I guess it would be a good time to start looking into ways to free Ryan."
"So, we use his own child against him."
"His 'child,' as you call Ryan, deserves better than Malivore for family," Elena said fiercely.
"Why do I have the feeling you're adopting him?" Elijah asked, a soft smile curling his lips.
"Because he's a boy who never had a chance to know what it was like to be loved and he craves it, desperately. If we give him stability and provide him the love he, he'll be less likely to run back to Malivore."
"It will take time for him to fully trust us though, if what you're saying is anything to go by." Elijah caught her hand and kissed her knuckles. "How fortunate for him that we both like to save lost causes."
"Just because he's lost doesn't make him a lost cause."
"And that, Elena Gilbert is part of the reason I love you." He flicked the blinker on and pulled off the interstate behind Shelia's car.
A few minutes later, they pulled into a hotel and parked.
"I'll be right back." Elijah leaned over and kissed the top of Elena's head before exiting the car. He was gone for a few moments and then returned, several hotel key cards in his hand. After distributing them among the others, Elijah grabbed his and Elena's bags out of the trunk of the car.
"I hope you don't mind, but I put us in the same room."
"I don't mind at all." Elena smiled up at him.
"I know I made your aunt a promise, and we will keep it, but that doesn't mean we can't share a bed."
"I sleep better when you're there anyway, so why not?" Elena shrugged.
While she wanted to do nothing more than to ride Elijah into the next century, her trip into the pit left her drained, and besides, she did promise Jenna. And her aunt deserved the respect of having a promise kept, even when she wasn't around to make sure it was.
After they reached their rooms, Elena grabbed her bag and headed for the shower. The hot water beating down on her tired body felt like paradise. Who knew that a trip into a tar pit could leave someone feeling so exhausted?
All too soon, she had to climb out. Once she was dressed, she headed out into the bedroom area and crawled into the single king sized bed in the middle of the room.
"I'll be back in a moment." Elijah brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, concern written across his face.
"Okay."
She was almost asleep when Elijah returned and climbed into bed with her, wearing nothing more than a pair of low cut sleeping pants. Elena curled up in his arms, enjoying the feel of so much of his skin against her.
Guilt washed over her all of the sudden. Did she have the right to be happy when there was so much to do, so many people counting on her to save them and all she was doing was lying here in the arms of the man she loved?
"What are you thinking?" He ran his fingers through her hair slowly.
"That right this minute, there are innocent people trapped in an endless void, Ryan among them, and they have no way out."
"They have you, Elena. And we'll find a way. You're too damn stubborn not to find a way through the impossible, especially when it comes to saving innocent people."
"I just wish I could do something now."
"You're no good to anyone if you wear yourself out." Elijah tucked her head beneath his chin and pulled the blankets over them both. "Don't feel guilty for needing to take time for yourself. The people who need you can keep until tomorrow."
"When do you think Klaus will show up?"
"Honestly? It's anyone's guess. I think us doing what we are doing to change the future has him spooked so he's laying low and watching."
"In other words, he's already here, he's just trying to figure out if we're trying to screw him over."
"Knowing my brother, that's more than likely exactly what he's doing." Elijah sighed.
"Too bad Klaus won't just sit down with us and let me explain my plan." Elena kissed Elijah's clavicle, with just a hint of tongue peeking out from between her lips.
"Elena."
The warning hint in Elijah's tone had her sitting up to look down at him.
"You kissing me like that makes it difficult to control myself and Jenna's not here to stop us."
"Sorry."
"Don't apologize." Elijah pulled her back down against him. "Soon enough you'll be eighteen and then there will be no more promise hanging over our heads."
Elena sighed and hooked her leg over his waist as she settled in deeper into his embrace, sleep coming to claim her once more.