Chapter Twenty-Six: Shock Absorber For the Soul

A/N: Sorry, this took a while. Been trying to write everything so you guys don't have to wait too long between chapters. Alas, though, thanks for being here.

I hope y'all enjoy!

Perspective: Elena

-x-x-x-

"Denial is the shock absorber for the soul. It protects us until we are equipped to cope with reality,"

- C. S. Lewis

"I need your help."

You adjust the phone, ready to type a reply, but Kol practically snatches it from your hand.

"Hey!"

"What do you think you're doing?" he demands.

Your eyes narrow. "Replying."

"You literally just watched Katherine get locked into a freezer from 9 hours ago. Do you understand how long it takes for hypothermia to set in?"

You flinch a little, because you do. "About 30 minutes."

"And 1 to 2 hours, at most, before freezing to death."

"She could've escaped."

"In that condition? I highly doubt I'd be able to get out of a locked freezer even in a perfectly healthy state."

He pulls the phone out of reach when you try to grab it.

"Katherine's not dead," you deny, "she can't be."

You might be completely mad at her right now, but you had stormed off into the woods with the intent to yell at her later.

Not only is she able to clear your name, but you refuse to believe Katherine is dead.

"You can't possibly believe that," Kol says like he's reading your thoughts.

"Just give back the phone, Kol."

"Not if you're going to reply."

"Why not?"

"Just stop and think for a minute. The probability that this is actually Katherine is paper thin. She has a burner for goodness sakes, it doesn't even have a lock on it."

"Elena," Jenna rests a hand on your shoulder. "He's right. If this is the kind of people you're dealing with, you have to be careful."

The image of Markos—god, Markos. Hadn't she trusted him?—dragging Katherine towards the freezer door flashes in your mind.

You swallow the lump in your throat.

You understand the need to be cautious, but you refuse to abandon hope, and that means getting to the location where Tobias left Katherine as soon as possible. Meaning that you have to answer this text and figure out where that is and what's going on.

"If you hadn't interrupted," Kol says, reprimanding really, "you would've heard that Tobias is now looking for you."

You recall what that man had been saying. The entire audio of the video had been muffled like some out-of-date microphone had been recording but you understood everything clearly.

Tobias didn't kill Viktor.

Amelia Pierce, Katherine's supposedly-dead adoptive mother, had, and she had also taken all of their father's money. And now that Tobias' has left Katherine for dead, he thinks he can use your uncanny identical appearance to get to Amelia.

"This is crazy," you say aloud.

Kol nods his head, thinking. "Tobias doesn't know we have this video. Amongst everything, he freely admitted to framing Katherine."

Of course.

You'd caught that too, and that confession could help, if not overall, exonerate Katherine from Viktor's murder.

But for now, that isn't the most demanding part of this whole thing.

"So, what're you saying?"

"I'm going to be straight with you, Elena. Unless she's magically founded teleportation, there's no way Katherine is alive."

The words hit you through the chest.

A cold shiver runs up your neck.

"The only person that can be on the other side of this text is Tobias. The good thing is that he's got no clue that we know this, and we can use that to our advantage."

You push away the protest on the tip of your tongue about his belief on Katherine's rate of survival. "You want to lure him out."

"Precisely."

You study him.

For a friend, he's taking her death awfully calmly. How is his skin not crawling with anger like yours is?

You sigh deeply.

"So, what do we do?" you ask. "Should I call him?"

"No. If he picks up, we'll know that it isn't Katherine and—"

"And if it is?"

He gives you a look, irritated. "After this, it can't be. And calling will only alert Tobias that we're on to him."

"Why don't we just—"

A sudden ring-ring cuts you off.

It's not your phone this time. Kol pats his pocket and checks who's calling him before he holds up a finger, "Hold that thought. Hello?"

His brows pull down as he listens, and he excuses himself to the next room taking your phone with him.

Your sigh is exasperated.

"Elena," Jenna calls with a comforting hand on your shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

You want to shrug her off, because no, Katherine isn't dead. You don't know how but she just can't be. You don't think you'd be able to take it.

This is what denial looks like, Elena, your mind tells you; you wonder if you can deny being in denial.

"I didn't know Katherine, but you must've gotten close… I'm sorry."

You only sigh again, not wanting to dwell on this.

"Jenna," you start, and she looks at you expectantly, "you asked me how I was going to clear my name."

She gives you a look like she's saying: of all the things you put off, grieving a loss shouldn't be one of them. You'd done it with Jeremy and look where that's got you.

You ignore the look anyway.

"I came here to tell you, I finally found out what happened that night."

She lets out an audible gasp. "Jeremy?"

You nod. "Turns out, Jeremy was talking to Katherine, trying to convince her to meet with me."

"Katherine?" she frowns.

You nod again, "They met up that night at the party and a guy named Jackson Pierce killed Jeremy."

"…Pierce? Was it Katherine—is she the reason Jeremy's dead?"

"No…" you trail off. Technically, she is. But from her brief explanation, Jackson being there hadn't been intentional. "This guy, Jackson, he followed her."

"And ended up murdering Jeremy. How? Why?"

"I… uh, I didn't get that far."

Her question comes unspoken.

"I left when I found out."

"Leaving without getting an explanation? That doesn't sound like you."

No, it doesn't. But you'd been too upset to listen. Anything Katherine might've said would've only been received with a clouded mind.

You had needed to cool off.

"Did you find any evidence we can take to a judge?"

"I'm not sure, actually. If Katherine has any, I'll ask her when I find her."

You see Jenna's look (pity, if you ever saw it) but you ignore it again.

"I don't know if Katherine would've shown any to anyone else." Maybe Freya?

If anything, it should be on her laptop. That is where you found out this information in the first place. Maybe it holds more answers. Maybe on one of the countless encrypted files she has on it.

"You're sure?"

You frown a little, but she doesn't know about the laptop. Not yet anyways. "I might have an idea. Someone who could help."

If how Katherine has been going about everything is any indication, she's only really trusted two people that you know of, and one of them is in the other room.

"Well then, you need to go, Elena. You owe Jeremy, and you owe yourself, to find out the whole truth."

"Yeah," you agree after a moment. Noting that she may be encouraging you to go but she's cautiously avoiding commenting on finding your twin, dead or alive.

Glancing at the open doorway, you watch for Kol's return. When you find Katherine, you're going to figure out the whole truth about Jeremy. Even if you don't find her soon, Jeremy's death is something you won't avoid anymore. Sure, the notion of being a fugitive was never going to be easy but the longer you're out of Port Hill, and the deeper you delve into the Pierce family, the more dangerous it appears everything really is.

You can't just charge in headfirst. You've got to think things through, have a solid plan, have the right resources, and ensure an exit strategy.

"What would Katherine do?" you ask yourself, just as you get an answer.

Grabbing Jenna's hand, you ask, "I need to call in that 'anything' you said you would do."

"Of course."

You pull out the laptop from your bag. "This is Katherine's. It has several important files on it. They're mostly encrypted, but I do know that a few of them is about Jeremy. I'm going with Kol to find her, but if anything happens to me, I need you to give this to a private investigator named Damon Salvatore. From Salvatore Investigations in Richmond City."

You've never met the man, but according to Katherine, he sounds more reliable than his uncle Zack. Reliable in the sense that he'll try to decrypt the thing and use it to take down Tobias instead of just tossing it aside. He has a motivating reason and he sounds like he's the next most determined person to take down Tobias.

"Elena…" Jenna regards you with weary eyes. You may need answers, but that didn't mean she didn't worry about the danger you're running to.

You can't lie. Amidst all the chaos, her worry makes you feel… warm? It's nice to know she cares.

"Jenna, please," you say, because you don't have a choice.

Stuffing the laptop back in the duffle, you place it at Jenna's feet.

Kol doesn't comment as he comes back in time to see you struggle with the zipper.

"Alright, Freya tells me she's still looking. I did mention, if you'd been listening, that she sent out some men to look into some possible locations. We'll head to Richmond once you've finished."

"I'm ready."

"Perfect."

"What about… the text?"

"With Tobias, you mean?" he specifies, since you keep insisting the opposite. "We'll figure it out."

"Elena." Jenna repeats.

"It's okay, Jenna. Thank you," you wrap your arms around her in a quick hug, but she holds on.

For a moment, you're solid rock but you melt into her embrace when your emotions get the better of you.

You swallow it back.

"I'll be careful. I promise. I'll see you later."

"I'm holding you to that."

You can only muster up a tight smile before you're out the door and following Kol to his car.

-x-x-x-

The longer it takes to get to Richmond, the more anxious you feel.

It doesn't help that you've watched the video of Katherine and Tobias and Markos and that freezer in that kitchen over and over and over.

You meant to try and find a way out. A path that Katherine would've been able to exploit once the others were gone, but the more you look at it, the more it only solidifies how fucked she had truly been.

"Stop looking at that," Kol shakes his head as you begin the video for the hundredth time.

You mean to rub your head but end up touching your stitches. You hiss at the sharp pain before adamantly saying, "There's no way Katherine is dead."

Kol doesn't say a word but you see the way he tenses.

"There's just no way," you repeat.

"Well, when we find this place, we will find out, won't we?"

You agree.

That you'll find out you were right, because being wrong… no, you can't even think of that.

"Give me that."

"Hey, wait!" You reach for his phone, but despite his divided attention he's able to snatch it away. "I'm not done!"

"You've watched this for the millionth time. It's all the same, stop torturing me with the sound of it over and over."

"I wasn't just repeating it," you argue. "I'm going to find a loophole. Something Katherine would've noticed and used to escape."

He makes a face, "You're going to find that from this video?"

"I'm going to find out—You know what? At least, I'm doing something!"

"We're on our way to the city. What's that supposed to mean?"

"We're just… This is taking too long!" It's been hours.

"How am I meant to go faster if that'll only lead to the authorities right on our backs?"

You know that but still, sitting in a car doesn't feel like it's enough.

You huff out a breath, frustrated.

This is completely unfair.

Finding out Katherine lied to you and wanting to ignore her shouldn't end up with her dying just because she left. It just shouldn't.

You're only quiet for a moment, leg shaking and fingers drumming before you feel the Mikaelson's side glance.

"You're really impatient, you know that?" he comments, like he hadn't just been pissed off and you hadn't just yelled at him a second ago.

"Oh yeah, I know," you say, "When will we get there again?"

"Soon, so sit still."

"Not soon enough though, and here I really thought…" you trail off.

Kol turns to you after a moment.

"You thought?"

You shake your head. What were you going to say? That despite your mistrust, Kol seems reliable? No wonder Katherine trusted him.

Trusts. Not trusted.

No wonder Katherine trusts him.

You sigh again.

No matter how capable, it's not like he can teleport. You're being ridiculous, but you hate this feeling. And well, anyways, you can't exactly admit aloud that, to some degree, you trust the guy.

"What's on your mind, Ellie?"

You cringe.

"Elle? Elllie? My name's Elena."

He chuckles, shrugging like he did the last time you corrected him.

For a long moment, all he does is drive. It's the afternoon, and there's a fair number of cars on the interstate. Even the weather is nice.

"You went to my aunt's house to find out information. What information?"

"We just want to know what you do." And if any of your family members know anything.

"What's your father planning to do to me?"

"Don't you worry, my father won't kill you."

You flinch. "That's not assuring at all. There are worst things than death."

"Yes, but if you're telling the truth that you know nothing about Tobias or why he killed Tony, you'll have no worries."

"If?" You understand why they need to make sure, but that's exactly what worries you.

He shrugs a little, undeterred, "If."

You look out to of your window for a moment, watching the scenery dash by.

"I'm sorry about Tony, Kol. I didn't know him for long, but…" you trail off. What're you supposed to say? That he seemed like a good man? In this line of… work, if push came to shove, you can only assume Tony or any of the other Mikaelsons would've done the exact same as Tobias. How does killing anyone make the other a "good man"?

You shake your head.

"I'm just, really sorry about Tony."

Kol doesn't respond right away, but puzzlingly, he grins once he sees your face.

"Someone died, darling, it's nothing new."

His tone makes you uneasy, and you feel offended despite barely knowing Tony.

You glance at Kol for a moment as he concentrates on the road.

-x-x-x-

"Hey."

You open your eyes as Kol shakes you awake.

With a yawn, you ask, "Are we there?"

He raises a brow, "No, we've just entered the city, but I've got to fill up the tank. Thought you might want to use the loo."

You scratch an itch on your face and rub your eyes, and Kol is gone before anything else can be said.

Getting out of the car, you stretch.

The Mikaelson is on the other side of the vehicle, pumping up gas, so you decide to do as he suggests.

"Do I need a key for the restroom?" you ask the clerk behind the counter.

A brown young man with a full beard blinks already half-lidded eyes for a moment. He looks like he could at least be thirty, but you doubt it.

"Uh," he looks down at something under the counter before handing you a key attached to the end of a stick. "It's out in the back."

"Thanks."

Surprisingly, the rest room is in good condition.

You splash your face with water just to wake up some more, before washing your hands and using the toilet.

When you get out, Kol is already there, roughly grabbing you by the arm.

"What the—?!"

"Shh!"

He pushes you to the wall and you tense as he presses up against you.

"Uh," you say before you notice how he's peering around the corner. Your heart drops. "What happened?"

"Bloody cops."

You see a few officers in uniform standing around the side of the gas station as two others head into the store.

That clerk, he must've recognized you.

"Come on," Kol instructs, ducking out of the station and leading you down the street.

"We're just going to leave the car?" you ask as he drags you along.

"Yup."

He pulls your hood up, making you walk beside him, "Keep your head down."

-x-x-x-

You stand in an alley, arms folded as you lean on the cold brick wall of one building.

Kol stands in front of you, blocking most of the people who could potentially see your face and call the cops again.

"Look, at least let me talk to Fin."

The Mikaelson is on the phone, his stance changing with his frustration. You have no idea who he's talking to, but he's annoyed enough to send you a roll of his eyes for the person on the other end.

"Maybe if you do your job, I wouldn't—Are you serious?" he huffs. "This bastard hung up on me."

"Who was that?"

"The help," he basically spits out, but his venom isn't directed at you. The help? Someone like Tony had been? "Come on."

When he starts walking down the alley instead of the sidewalk you follow with a call, "Where are you going?"

"I couldn't contact Freya. She probably went with the team to find Kat."

"And so, we're heading there?"

"No. Look, I can't have you running around the city with that face. Doesn't matter if you have a hood, the authorities have been alerted that you're within city limits."

"So, we just hide? We need to find Katherine. You said we'd find out."

"You think quoting me is going to change the fact that you'll get caught out here? That's adorable."

A heavy sigh escapes your lips.

You have no choice but to follow him back into the sidewalk and you pull your hood lower. It effectively hides your face, but this causes you to bump into a few people.

"Why are there so many people here?" you mutter. The last time you'd been in Richmond, the city hadn't been this populated. You might as well be walking through New York.

"Some parade, I believe," Kol replies. "A bloody hassle for travellers, if you ask me."

Oh, right. On the first night in Richmond, Katherine had mentioned a parade or festival happening.

"So, where are we going really?"

His smirk appears for a moment like he's being sly, but to your surprise he answers, "I know a safe place. Nothing fancy though, but I'm hoping you don't mind."

"Why would I mind?" you ask aloud before registering that teasing tone. You make a face. "Are you flirting with me?"

At a time like this? Rushing to look for your sister and hiding from the city cops, and probably Tobias.

Why are you surprised? As if Katherine never acted inappropriate to the situation at hand either. You can only assume it's the result of their upbringing, but you have no idea if it's just a defence mechanism or if they're equally crazy.

"Keep up now, sweetheart," the Mikaelson calls over his shoulder.

You try, but as you walk through the city with Kol, you realize you're starting to lose sight of him.

When he disappears, you try to catch up but end up accidentally push some people who glare at you as they keep going to wherever they're heading.

You turn around, not seeing the Mikaelson's sandy brown head and not exactly knowing where you were headed in the first place.

"Goddammit."

"Hey."

You jump when you hear a voice right by your ear. Somehow, Kol's appeared behind you.

"What the fuck," you mutter.

He only smirks.

"The amount of people here is insane. We need to get out of the crowd."

He holds your shoulder when you start getting swept off by the people walking by.

"Thanks."

"And not get separated," he adds.

"Yeah," you agree.

"Come on," he holds out his hand and you look at it.

There's nothing in it.

"Take my hand."

You frown.

He chuckles at your reluctance, "I'm not asking for your hand in marriage, Elena."

Maybe he wasn't flirting with you before, but he seems like the type to milk the situation after you've already made the comment.

Hesitating, you take his hand and he intertwines his fingers with yours. You make a face at him as your head turns like you're going in the direction you should be heading in, but really you want to hide this blush that's suddenly creeping up your cheek.

It's just a little hand holding and its not like you like Kol, but the last times you'd done anything remotely "intimate" with a guy, it'd been Matt and you've known him all your life so did it even count?

Shut up, Elena, you're just holding hands.

"Now that wasn't so bad was it, darling?"

You roll your eyes, pulling him along, "Yeah yeah, let's go."

"Wow, it really is like the real thing," Kol laughs and you want to let go but someone bumps into him and you instinctively hold his hand tighter.

After you reach the end of the block, you don't actually know where you're going so you let him lead.

For some reason, the crowd is less inclined to bump into two people as opposed to when you'd been walking by yourself.

When he leads you to the subway, there's nowhere to sit.

The cameras here make you anxious. You can't afford to get stopped and the amount of people so close and stationary only makes you more nervous. People may not be looking for you per se, but being recognized as local terrorist from the news, Katherine Pierce, is just as worse.

The only good thing that could come out of such a sardine packed area is that if no one recognizes you, the crowd can help conceal you.

For the moment, at least.

-x-x-x-

You open the door to the room you'd been ushered in. Kol had spoken to the front desk without you and you'd pretty much snuck into the hotel to avoid any eyes.

"Question," you start as you sit on the bed. You can't relax, not now, but you'll sit just to sit, "but you found Caroline, right?"

He glances at you with a small cocky grin. "Of course, I did."

You ignore his seemingly signature grin because the relief you get makes you feel lighter, "She's okay?"

Not your fault but you and Katherine had ended up leaving her in that crash.

"A little banged up to be honest, but yes. Probably freaking out about Kat as we speak."

You purse your lips, refusing to go back to that speculation.

No matter what you saw, Katherine is alive.

She has to be.

Kol sits at a chair, rolling it in front of the tv.

He turns it to the local news as it talks about the parade outside.

"So, we just sit here," you ask again, still annoyed you can't do a thing.

The Marriott Hotel that Katherine had gone to; you have no idea where that is. It probably won't take much to find it, but Kol has your phone and you don't exactly have a map.

You'd imagined running in there and demanding where your sister is, but that isn't practical.

Though, if you were being honest, she probably isn't even in the hotel anyway.

What idiot would keep her in one place?

The hotel was only where she was headed to find Robero. Tobias could've taken her to… anywhere, Tobias could've taken her anywhere.

For maybe the first time, you notice that Kol has a cautious look in his eyes.

"Not exactly," he answers, pulling out his phone. He dials a number as he says, "I'm going to try my sister again."

He spins in his chair as he calls, phone to his ear.

When he puts it down, you know he had the same result as before.

"Now what?" you ask.

"We wait."

"Till when exactly?" you push. You really are impatient.

"Till night fall."

"This is crazy, we should be out there."

"Getting caught?"

"No. Looking for her. I can't believe we're just sitting here."

Kol sends you an annoyed look.

"So, we wait. And then?"

"And then I call my sister again because I've got no clue where the goddamn location is!"

His frustration quiets down your insistence. You already know you can't do much at the moment but sensing Kol's ease about the whole thing made you want to push.

He glares, a contrast to the ease he'd been displaying so far.

It shuts you up, but from experience, you've learnt it might be less about you and more about… something else. You don't know Kol enough to guess.

He crosses his arms.

Okay, maybe it might be a little about you being annoying with all the unnecessary pestering.

"Since you seem to think you're the only one affected."

"I don't think I'm the only one affected—"

"No? Then stop acting like it. It's best you understand that Katherine was my friend."

Was.

"Tony as well. But I'm being realistic. Even if we get out now, in broad daylight, with law enforcement actively searching for you, Katherine is dead, just as her butler and just as is Tony. The only thing I'll find comfort in is killing the man responsible."

You flinch a little at his declaration of murder but it's not something you can blame him for.

After everything, you definitely understand the feeling.

The image you'd had of stabbing Jackson in the neck after finding out he hurt Katherine had been so vivid.

And the emotion that brought that out?

That only intensified when you found out what he'd done to Jeremy.

You already knew your limited choices and pissing off the only person helping you now shouldn't be on your priorities list.

-x-x-x-

"What are we going to do about this text?" you ask, referring to the text you'd received.

Just as you were crossing Mystic Falls town lines, you'd insisted texting Katherine's phone asking where she is, but Kol had refused to give back your phone.

Now hours later, it feels absurd that you have yet to answer.

"If it's not Katherine," you concede, "wouldn't it look suspicious that we're not even trying to call?"

"Don't fret, I already replied."

"What? And you didn't tell me?"

"Obviously, to avoid suspicion you would've answered her cry for help."

You're a little speechless, and he finally gives you back your phone.

"Kat, where have you been? What do you need?"

The timestamp says it was sent just after you left Mystic Falls and somehow you hadn't even seen him send it.

The whole time you'd been pestering him about your phone and he'd already replied.

"You—" bastard, is how you would've ended that sentence but instead you swallow your disbelief to criticize him. "I don't call her Kat."

He shrugs, "All the better. If she's okay, then she'll notice and call you out on it. If it's not her then Tobias will be none the wiser."

"There's… there's no reply."

"Yep," he nods.

The fact that there isn't a reply, even hours later is telling. If it's a good sign or not, you can't really tell and that makes you nervous. Well, more nervous than you already are.

"What does that mean?" you voice.

Who calls for help and then goes silent?

Someone dead, you mind supplies.

But Katherine isn't dead. She's not.

"—last you met."

"What?" you shake free of your thoughts.

"You said you two were fighting last you saw one another," Kol reiterates.

You frown, "No, I didn't."

In fact, you hadn't given a reason as to why you'd separated.

"You hadn't?" he ponders to himself, but shrugs again, "Trevor must've told me."

Of course, he's friends with the Pierce henchman.

It seems everyone knew everybody. Trevor probably reached out to the Mikaelsons knowing that Katherine trusted them.

"Freya said she gave Katherine Robero's location. The Marriott Hotel in the middle of the city, right here," Kol says, pointing to a map he'd spread out on the table.

"In the heart of the parade."

"Seems so. But the sun's almost set. We should be able to go out. Get lost in the crowd."

"We're going to the Marriott."

"No. Once I get a hold of my sister, we'll meet up with her. See what they found."

-x-x-x-

Stewing in a hotel room till the sun went down has added to your antsiness.

Now, you weave through a crowd, hand in hand with Kol once more.

It's dark, but the roads are closed and packed with citizens waiting for the fireworks.

You smell smoke and booze, and despite the huge body of people, the air is crisp.

Had it been this cold all week?

"Hey," you call Kol as he leads the way, but the crowd is too loud.

"Hey!"

He turns.

The next part happens too quickly for you to recall clearly.

Someone's shoved.

You?

There's a gun shot.

Screams.

And then the shoving.

Another BANG! and you feel like your ears are going to explode from the chaos.

The screaming.

A shooting.

You realize you're going with the crowd only when you get to the sidewalks where there's less shoving.

You pant, holding up your hand to see the blood.

The increasingly familiar feel of warm, slick blood is on your hand.

And on your shirt.

And—Were you shot?

You pat yourself. Nothing hurts. You weren't hurt, but this blood.

Whoever was shot, you'd been that close.

Wait.

Kol.

Frantic eyes search the sea of chaos.

"Kol!" you shout, unable to see his sandy brown head anywhere.

People are shoving and bumping and trampling but someone steady is suddenly behind you, grabbing your shoulder.

Somehow, without turning, you can tell this person is different from the crowd.

You spin around, and your expression drops at the sight of who it is.

"Well, well," Jackson leans forward, his hand gripping your shoulder like steel, "it must be my lucky day."