Chapter 60: Heart of Darkness

November 3, 2010

The last few days had been… tense to say the least. Rebekah seemed to be the only Mikaelson capable of expressing her grief over losing Finn. Ellie had ended up curled up in Rebekah's bed after Klaus had dismissed Finn's death. She understood that part of Rebekah's distress came from the fact that she was worried that Klaus would react that way if she died. Despite the fact that Finn had tried to kill them all and he'd been in a box for over nine hundred years, Rebekah had grieved the loss of her brother.

Klaus had basically ignored the issue entirely and acted as if it didn't hurt him in the slightest for his brother to have died. Though he did seem to be drinking more than normal. Elijah was slightly more open with his emotions. He admitted to being in shock over the loss of his brother and Ellie could tell his death hurt him. When Rebekah had been alright enough for Ellie to leave her by herself for a while, Ellie had gone to check on Elijah. He'd been in his study, reading through something in a language she didn't understand.

Whatever their new relationship was, Ellie still wasn't entirely sure how to handle certain things. In the end, Ellie had moved to sit next to him on the loveseat and wrapped her arms around his. If there was one thing that it seemed like she could do, holding his hand was one of them. So she slid her hand into his and rested her head on his shoulder. If she could curl up with Rebekah as her friend to give her comfort, doing this with Elijah really shouldn't be a big deal. He had sighed heavily as he let go of some of the tension that had built in his shoulders, and rested his head on top of hers.

From the loss of all four of her parents, one thing Ellie had learned was that having the ability to give them a proper burial was incredibly important when it came to getting some type of closure. With the help of Stefan, Ellie managed to get Finn's body back. He'd been brought in a coffin, and other than being burned and grey, his body was still intact. Rebekah had cried at the sight of her brother, before hugging Ellie tightly. "What's all this then?" Klaus asked as he strolled into the main foyer.

He halted at the sight of the coffin before him. "He's your brother." Ellie said softly. "Whether you were close or not, I figured that you deserve the chance to bury him properly."

"Thank you." Rebekah replied as she wiped her eyes. "You'll help, won't you Nik?"

It seemed that despite his cold remarks about Finn's death, that seeing his sister in tears over their deceased brother was enough to move him. "Of course, Rebekah. I'll build the pyre." The way Klaus spoke then had been different. It was softer and sounded far more sad than he'd sounded before.

"I'll get the offerings." Rebekah told them. "Elijah, can you get the clothes?"

"I will. Go ahead, we should get started." Rebekah and Klaus quickly exited the room.

Klaus had disappeared out the front door, leaving Ellie curious as to where he was going. "What's Klaus doing?"

Elijah pulled his eyes away from his brother's coffin and explained, "This was our homeland, Eleanor. Despite centuries of our things being built on, there are still places that have remained untouched. Klaus has gone to build the funeral pyre near the graveyard."

"But won't he be seen?" Ellie asked in confusion.

He smiled softly at her. "Not near the city's cemetery. I'm talking about the graveyard our village used a thousand years ago. A thousand years have passed, but there are certain traditions that we still follow. A proper burial for Vikings is a bit different than the modern day version."

"What's a Viking burial like?"

"Come, we need to get clothes for Finn and I'll explain as we do." Elijah said as he led her with a hand on her back. "When we lived in our village, whenever someone died, there were certain traditions that we followed. We cremated the dead. It was our belief that the smoke from the fire would help carry their souls to the afterlife. Once they were dead, they were often buried. If they were of particular importance, we would bury them in an urn. The main difference came with how they were buried."

"How so?" Ellie asked as they walked into his bedroom.

"For the women and children, they were often buried close together and in graves that were far more shallow. When Rebekah was little she asked our mother once why they were buried differently from the men. Our mother told her that it brought the souls comfort for the children to be close to their friends and their mothers." Elijah smiled fondly at the memory. "But for the men, they were often buried with stones shaped in the form of a boat surrounding them. It was also our belief that boats helped carry the soul into the afterlife. For very high ranking men, however, they were oftentimes buried with their actual boat."

"You buried boats?"

He laughed at her shock. "There were very few men that gained that honor. It was mainly reserved for the chief of the village, or for men who had done extraordinary feats. But it had been done in our village on the occasion."

They were at his closet and Elijah was carefully looking through his things. "So are we doing that for Finn?"

"An actual boat, no. We will however be placing rocks around him. No matter what Klaus says, Finn earned that respect when we were human. He was also the oldest son in our family and that deserves respect as well. Rebekah has gone to gather offerings to be burned with his body as well."

"Offerings?"

Elijah had passed her a crisp white shirt as he replied, "No matter, man, woman, or child, we never sent anyone off into the great unknown alone. So we would bury them with things. I'm fairly certain it's the part that most history or… pop culture leaves out. It could be animals, weapons… I remember there were occasions where slaves were killed to spend the afterlife with their masters."

Ellie's eyes shot wide in surprise. "That sounds… gruesome."

He didn't seem offended. "It was gruesome. But it was what our culture practiced. When humans were sacrificed, it wasn't always a brutal death, but sometimes it was. But it wasn't in our village. Our village was small, and our people saw no use for slaves. But a friend of my father's had died and they'd killed his slaves and buried them with him. Rebekah's gone to get things to bury with him. I should probably warn you that there will likely be animals."

She took the pants and jacket that he gave her as she nodded. "As long as I don't have to see them die, I'm ok with that."

Once he had everything he needed, he replied, "I need to dress Finn. Would you mind going and getting some alcohol from Klaus' supplies? It doesn't matter which one."

"Of course, anything you need." Ellie assured him. She carried the clothes down into the foyer and placed them on a small table. She was fairly certain that Elijah was expressing more emotion over Finn's death than he realized. She only hoped that them actually getting to bury him brought them some sense of peace. She found Klaus' supplies and picked a large, old bottle that hadn't been opened. "Can I come in?" She called.

"You can come in." He replied. Finn's destroyed clothes had been folded neatly and placed on the table. Elijah turned to look at her before he said, "I can't thank you enough for doing this. You had no reason to."

"I care about you guys. That's more than enough of a reason." She informed him. "I know what it's like to lose family. I just wanted to help."

Elijah stepped towards her and cupped her face gently with his hands. "You've helped my family more than you could possibly know." He kissed her gently and rested his forehead against hers.

She gathered her courage to tilt her head up and kiss him again. If she were honest, she really, really liked kissing him. The kiss deepened, and Ellie let her arms snake around his neck. This wasn't exactly what she'd intended when she kissed him again, but she wasn't complaining either. Just as she'd really begun to give into the kiss, Klaus' dramatic scoff interrupted them. "Oh come on, now. We're in the middle of a funeral ritual people. Are you two really so hot and bothered that you can't even go into another room?" He scoffed.

Ellie's cheeks burned as she pulled away abruptly and she felt even more embarrassed when she noticed the dark look that Elijah gave Klaus. "Enough, Niklaus." Elijah warned.

"Well, I'm only saving the poor girl. Keep that up and her heart's going to give out." Klaus shot back as he grinned cheekily at them. Ellie groaned at his remark. She already knew that they could hear her heart, but he really didn't have to mention it.

"Niklaus." Elijah repeated.

"Alright, alright. I was just saying." Klaus laughed at her obvious discomfort. "Anyways, the pyre is ready. Has Rebekah gathered everything?"

The blonde strolled into the room as she wiped blood from her hands. "I have. The offerings are already at the pyre. I came back to help move the…" She stumbled over her words. "To help move Finn. Are we ready?"

"We're ready." Elijah agreed.

"I'll pull one of the cars around." Klaus told them.

As Klaus exited the room, Ellie walked over to Rebekah and wrapped her arms around the other girl. "Are you ok?"

"I will be." Rebekah confessed. It didn't take long to get Finn loaded into the car. The drive itself wasn't very long either. They arrived near The Falls and Ellie immediately spotted the massive pyre that Klaus had built. She held Rebekah's hand tightly as Klaus and Elijah placed Finn on the pyre.

They returned without lighting it and Elijah took a hold of the bottle that Ellie had picked. He opened it and took a long drink before passing the bottle to Klaus. Once he drank, he passed the bottle to Rebekah who did the same. When the bottle was passed to Ellie, she drank as well, though she wasn't sure what they were doing exactly. Her eyes widened as Elijah started to speak in a language that she didn't understand, and she could only assume it was their native tongue. Whatever he was saying seemed to make Rebekah a bit more emotional, so Ellie stepped closer to her.

After he was done talking, Elijah poured the remaining alcohol on Finn's corpse, before he threw a lit match onto the pyre. In an instant, it was engulfed in flames. Rebekah's hand shook in Ellie's. "We need to prepare the grave now." Klaus explained. They traveled into the woods, though they could see the pyre from where they were. A large stack of offerings were placed together next to a couple shovels.

Elijah pulled off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves before he took a shovel. As he and Klaus started to dig, Rebekah turned to Ellie. "We need to gather rocks. It doesn't matter the size but the larger they are the less we need."

The four of them spent hours in the woods. For whatever reason, neither Klaus nor Elijah had used their vampire speed to dig faster. Despite his earlier nonchalance over Finn's death, even Klaus had gone quiet. The funeral as a whole had ended up taking up the majority of the day. Ellie had spent the night at the Mikaelson mansion once again, and Rebekah, who was far too chipper so early in the morning, had dragged Ellie out of bed to go help decorate for the dance. "Rebekah, we really could just sleep in a little while later." Ellie groaned as she allowed the blonde to drag her down the stairs.

"We could or we could get a move on because there's not a chance in hell that I'm going to let the dance theme actually be the seventies. It's so gaudy and really just in poor taste." Rebekah scoffed.

"You know that Caroline's in charge of the dance committee right? She's not gonna like this." Ellie informed her as they slid into Ellie's car.

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing then that I don't particularly care what Caroline thinks." Rebekah replied.

Ellie gave her a look before she asked, "Well then what are you planning then?"

"The twenties of course." Rebekah said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ellie supposed she should have guessed it. From the sounds of it, Rebekah had loved the twenties.

When they arrived, the set up was already in full swing. "How have you already gotten it switched to the twenties?" Ellie asked in disbelief.

"I needed something to do the past few days. This was more than enough of a distraction." Rebekah confessed.

Ellie felt bad at the mention of Finn. They hadn't talked much about how Rebekah was feeling since the funeral and she wasn't going to bring it up now. Instead, she told Rebekah, "You know Caroline is going to be pissed right?"

"Sounds like fun." Rebekah replied. Rebekah took in the decorations and announced, "It's too flashy, people. It's supposed to be a speakeasy, not the World's Fair." She spotted Caroline talking to Matt and strolled over. "Oh, good. You're here. We need help setting up the tables, so get to it."

"What do you think you're doing?" Caroline asked.

"Somebody has to be in charge." Rebekah said bluntly.

"Yeah. Me. I'm the chair of the dance committee. The theme of the decade dance in the 1970s." Caroline said angrily.

"So you'd rather dress in tacky colors with bad hair than be a classic flapper from the Jazz age?" Rebekah asked. "Honestly, I don't know what my brother sees in you."

"Well, maybe he sees a challenge." Caroline replied as she crossed her arms over her chest. "See, unlike some other people, I don't sleep with everyone I make eye contact with."

"Maybe we can do both decades." Matt suggested.

All three of the girls immediately went, "No." Ellie gave him a small smile. "Nice attempt at trying to keep the peace, but not particularly effective. There's no way that would work."

Rebekah nodded. "But go on, Matt. Don't be a coward. You know you loved my twenties idea when I presented it to the group."

"Traitor!" Caroline exclaimed before turning to Ellie. "Were you in on this too?"

Ellie gave her an offended look. "Of course not!"

"She really wasn't." Matt assured her. "But come on, Care. Bell bottoms and disco? I don't know this just seemed cooler."

"See, it's just cooler." Rebekah repeated victoriously.

Caroline scoffed and said, "Whatever, have fun at your stupid dance."

She walked off, and Ellie sighed as Rebekah grinned. "I'll be back. I'm just gonna check on her."

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine." Rebekah replied.

"Probably, but she's still my best friend, Bekah. I'll only be a minute." Ellie assured her. Rebekah huffed slightly, but didn't stop Ellie as she went after Caroline. "Care! Caroline!" Ellie called as she jogged to catch up with the other girl. "I really didn't know about this ok?"

Caroline looked around carefully before pulling Ellie towards her car. "I know, ok? Don't sweat it. I knew that she had changed it to the twenties."

"But you were upset just now?" Ellie asked in confusion.

"I needed an excuse to not be here. I have places to be today." Caroline said cryptically.

"Wait, what's going on? Care no one's been telling me anything, it's the exact same from before the sacrifice. Please don't do that to me too." Ellie begged.

Caroline stopped suddenly and turned to look at her friend. Ellie looked far more tired than she'd expected her to and guilt washed over her. She was right. Just like last time, she'd been letting Elena control everything and had left Ellie out of all of their plans. "Ellie, I'm so sorry." Caroline told her sincerely. "That was never what I meant to do." She glanced around them once more before she explained, "I'm going to see Ty. Me being annoyed with Rebekah was the easiest way for me to not be here without it being questioned."

"You're going to see-" Ellie immediately lowered her voice to a whisper. "Is he ok?"

The blonde nodded excitedly. "Well, at least, I think so. I'll know for sure when I see him. I've missed him so much."

"Fair enough, but where's Elena? She was supposed to help out with this too, wasn't she?"

Caroline made a face. "Yes, she was, but there's a lot going on. Maybe Stefan would be the best to explain, he knows everything. I would stay and explain, I promise, but I really want to go see him." Matt had approached them with a grin. "Also, good work." She praised. "Just keep her occupied and be careful."

"You did pretty good yourself." Matt replied. "And I will. Also… tell him I said hi?"

Caroline was grinning brightly. "I will. Thanks you guys." She got into her car and pulled out of the drive.

"How bad is it that she told me to go to Stefan for answers?" Ellie asked warily.

Matt winced. "There's a lot that you've missed."

"Rebekah's going to hate me for leaving right after we got here." Ellie sighed.

"Honestly, we've been working on this for a while already, there's not much left to do today so it shouldn't be too bad." Matt explained as they walked back inside.

She still made a face as she walked over to Rebekah. The blonde immediately noticed her expression. "What is it?" Rebekah asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just need to go talk to Stefan." Ellie told her. "I don't know how long it will take but I'll try to be back soon. I promise." It was Rebekah's turn to make a face. "After we get done here, we can have a movie marathon. You'll love it."

Rebekah seemed placated by her promise and nodded. "Alright, fine."

Ellie gave her a bright smile. "I'll be back soon." She headed back out towards the parking lot as Rebekah shouted instructions to one of the guys. Honestly, if she and Caroline could get over their issues, they could probably be good friends. When she arrived at the Salvatore boarding house, it seemed that Stefan had heard her coming. He opened the door as she walked towards it. Instead of trying to find out what she hadn't been told, one look at his expression had her asking, "Are you ok?"

He looked tired, and a little defeated as he let her inside. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Bullshit." Ellie replied.

It seemed that he thought better of trying to lie again because he simply explained, "Elena and Damon are gone on a road trip to get Jeremy."

A million questions raced through her mind at once. Though she wanted to know why Elena had gone to get Jeremy without telling her, she asked once again, "Are you ok? Why did she go with Damon? Are you ok with that?"

"I'm the one that told her to go with him, Ellie." He admitted.

"Why?"

He gave a look before he replied, "Because she has feelings for him. Everything that I did to get back to myself, none of it matters if she has feelings for him."

"She's an idiot if she picks him over you."

Stefan laughed softly. "After everything I've done, could you blame her?"

"Yes, actually I could. Because everything you did was to keep them safe or because your humanity was off and you were in rage mode or because you were drowning in guilt." She replied bluntly. "Stefan, you can't blame yourself for stuff you did without your humanity."

"My humanity was on when I nearly drove Elena off the bridge your parents died on, Ellie." He told her. "I don't get to use my humanity being off as an excuse for that when it's not true."

She felt awful for him. "Stefan…"

"It's better that she figure it out now instead of later. But that's not why you came here, so what can I do for you?" He asked as he moved to pour himself a drink.

"Caroline said I should go to you to fill me in on everything." Ellie replied. "I've been with the Mikaelsons for the past few days and I haven't really talked to anyone."

"Well, let's see, Alaric is currently locked up in our basement because his evil alter ego has hidden the last remaining white oak stake for starters." Stefan told her. "Also we've come across a small problem."

"What problem?"

"Well, you see, Damon and Elena have gone to get Jeremy because they need to talk to Rose." Stefan informed her.

"Rose?" Ellie repeated. "Isn't that the woman that kidnapped me and Elena?"

He hummed as he poured himself another drink. "That would be correct. She's also the one that turned Katherine five hundred years ago."

"Why does that matter?"

"Because, as it turns out, when you kill an Original, everyone in their sireline dies with them. Damon is trying to find out who sired us."

Understanding washed over her. "He's still trying to kill Klaus, if Klaus isn't the bloodline you come from." Stefan nodded. "But Stefan… even if Klaus didn't sire your bloodline, he did sire Tyler. Damon doesn't care, does he?"

"No. If he didn't sire us, Damon will still try to kill him."

Ellie felt rage run through her. How selfish could Damon be? She wouldn't let another person she cared about die because of Damon and his stupid agendas. "You know what, I'll deal with that later. Let's circle back to Alaric and the missing stake."

"When we made the stakes, everyone got one. Alaric had hidden his behind his books on his bookcase, but apparently his evil side took over at some point and moved it. So there's a stake out there that could kill all of us if we can't find it."

"And the plan is…"

"To hope his evil side makes an appearance." Stefan confessed, "It's a weak plan, I know, but it's the only one we've got."

Ellie gave him a skeptical look. "So, we're just going to keep him locked up in the basement until he fesses up? That's going to be a while."

"Probably. Though, I gotta admit I'm kinda surprised you didn't know this already." Stefan replied.

"You shouldn't be. When has Elena ever filled me in on anything? Plus, after he shoved a knife in my stomach and I almost bled out in my own living room I wasn't exactly keeping a check on him." Ellie told him. "Which kinda sucks of me."

"It doesn't suck of you. You're not a bad person for wanting to keep a distance from him for a bit." Stefan insisted. "I was keeping him company, if you don't want to…"

She sighed and waved him off. "I can't really blame him for the actions of his evil alter ego, can I?"

Stefan laughed as he picked up a bottle of alcohol. "Grab yourself a glass. Ric and I already have some downstairs."

Ellie did as she was told and followed him to where Alaric was being held. When he spotted her, he immediately tensed. "Ellie, I'm so sorry." He apologized.

"It wasn't you, and if I'm honest, I don't really want to talk about it, if that's ok." Ellie admitted. Stefan gave her a worried look, but she squeezed his wrist gently to let him know she was ok.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Please, have a drink." Alaric said. Once Stefan had poured them all another glass, he asked them, "Do you think they got Jeremy by now?"

"They should." Stefan replied as he rested his head against the rock. "I haven't heard from them. Elena's worried about him. Now that she can't count on his ring anymore."

"Who knows. Maybe his alter ego's a pot smoking hippie pacifist." Alaric suggested hopefully.

Stefan and Ellie both laughed softly. "Yeah, maybe." Stefan agreed.

"I can't say I thought mine would be so hostile and militant."

"Actually it makes perfect sense."

Ellie turned to look at the vampire. "How?"

"His wife left him to become a vampire and his girlfriend was almost killed by one and his sort of daughter was killed by one." Stefan explained.

Alaric twisted the ring on his finger. "He must really hate me. Here I am, the failed hunter slash drinking buddy of vampires."

"Ah, he's too judgmental." Stefan dismissed. Clearly, he'd had more than a little to drink, though he was still relatively sober.

"The thing is… he's me. I'm not compelled. I'm not possessed. There's no humanity switch. What drives him… is me." Alaric replied.

"No." Ellie and Stefan replied at once. "No, he's not you." Ellie said confidently. "The Ric I know was kind to my stoner brother when he didn't have to be. He took care of me and my family and fell in love with my aunt. He's loyal and kind and funny. So no, he's not you."

"She's right." Stefan added. "He's the darkest parts of you. Parts we all have." Ellie laced her hand through Stefan's and squeezed to try and comfort him.

"Well, this is depressing, isn't it?" Klaus asked as he stepped into the room. Stefan and Ellie rose as he added, "Oh, and I found this upstairs." Klaus kept a tight grip on the white oak stake in his hand. "Now by my count, there should be one more."

"Yeah, well, it's gonna take a little more time." Stefan replied.

"Why, because we're waiting for that one to pass out?" Klaus inquired. "No thanks, I think I'll just kill him."

"Well then you won't know the location of the other stake." Stefan shot back.

"I can live with that."

"Well, I can't." Stefan said as he blocked Klaus from going over to Alaric. "When we staked Finn, we discovered that killing an Original vampire killed it's entire bloodline. Now, I don't know which one of you I'm descended from, but I'd really rather not find out by dying, so why don't we just find the stake, and destroy it so we can all be safe?"

Klaus had an odd expression on his face. "So the fate of the entire vampire race depends on you finding a stake? And to get it, we need you to pass out. Which means I feel totally justified doing this." Klaus had snapped Alaric's next in the blink of an eye. "There. Sleeping like a baby."

"Klaus!" Ellie huffed.

He shrugged unapologetically. "Come now, love. We need that stake."

"What are you even doing here?"

"Bekah mentioned that you'd gone to see Stefan. Thought I'd pop by and visit as well." Klaus said casually. "But at least I got this stake out of my visit."

Ellie gave him a suspicious look. "And why exactly do you care so much if an entire vampire line dies if you don't die?" He walked out of the cell and Ellie followed after him. "Is this because of your thing for Caroline?"

He whipped around and gave her a look of warning. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Even Caroline knows you've got a thing for her." Ellie added. "Listen, I'm all for it. She's an amazing person, but if you actually want something from her, you're not doing that great of a job."

"Oh wise witch then what, pray tell, should I do?" Klaus asked.

"So you do want to get with her!" Ellie said excitedly. The Original just rolled his eyes at her as he headed for the front door. "Well, for starters, trying to actually have a conversation with her like a normal person would probably help. Caroline deserves to be treated right Klaus."

"She deserves to be worshipped." Klaus corrected. It seemed like it was out of his mouth before he could stop it and Ellie stared at him with wide eyes. Realizing that he was caught, he sighed and smiled almost shyly. "She intrigues me. She's special."

Ellie nodded. "She is. But you're gonna have to work for it if you want a chance with her. That's all I'm saying."

Stefan and Ellie were sitting on the floor outside of Alaric's cell, as they focused intensely on their game. Ellie had been on the verge of victory when Alaric's groan of pain distracted them. "Welcome back." Stefan greeted.

"What happened? Did I, uh…"

"No, no you pretty much uh laid there dead for half the night." Stefan explained. "But, on the uh, on the plus side, I finished reading Moby Dick."

"And I've repeatedly kicked his ass at cards." Ellie added. They'd been playing cards for a while, though Ellie had slept with her head on his shoulder as he read Moby Dick aloud.

The duo stood and made their way back into the cell as Alaric stood. "This is stupid." He told them. "Evil me, or whatever you want to call him, he's not gonna make an appearance. Why would he? I mean, the best hiding place is the one where you can't find the person who hid it."

"I know." Stefan confessed.

"So how do you want to do this?"

"I don't want to do any of this." Stefan replied.

Ellie frowned as she looked between them. "Do what?"

"Well, that makes two of us. And Ellie, the only way to get evil me to come out is going to be to torture me and Stefan here is going to have to be the one to do it. But I don't think we have much choice in the matter."

He pulled off his ring, causing both Stefan and Ellie to give him an almost panicked look. "Wait a minute, what are you doing? You need that ring."

"No, what I need is hope that my alter ego doesn't have a death wish." Alaric replied. "So, I'm taking bets that my dark side has a sense of self preservation. So let's see if he defends himself against death."

Stefan scoffed at the idea. "Look, Alaric, I'm not going to kill you. Ok?"

"If we have any chance at this, Stefan, you're gonna have to try." Alaric replied. Ellie watched as Stefan's shoulders tensed. She backed away slightly as he shook his head. If there was one thing she was entirely too familiar with, it was that resigned look on his face. Despite knowing that it was coming, the first blow to Alaric's face caught her by surprise. He landed several heavy blows to Alaric's face before he stumbled into the wall. "You're not putting enough into this." Alaric accused.

"I put any more into it, I'm going to break your spine." Stefan explained. He punched Alaric again, forcing the man to his knees as blood rushed from his nose.

"Well, don't back down now." Alaric insisted.

Stefan was breathing heavily as the veins around his eyes darkened. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I can't… the blood."

"Oh come on, you're past that." Alaric replied.

"No, I'm not. Ellie…" He was begging her for help, but she didn't know what to do.

"No! Don't use her to try and get yourself out of it. Use it." Alaric demanded. "Give into it. Try and kill me, Stefan. Come on!"

"Not like this, Alaric." Stefan denied.

"Yes! Like this." Both men were breathing heavily as Ellie stepped even farther away. "You're going to have to want to kill me for me to believe that you will."

"I go this far I may not be able to stop."

"You want the answers from my darkest side, you're going to have to tap into yours." Stefan let out a low groan as his resolve wavered. "So don't back down. Don't fight it. Just do it." He got in Stefan's face, shoving him as he screamed, "Do it!" Stefan let out another groan before he shot his hands out and Alaric flew into the wall on the other side of the cell. Ellie could feel the shift of energy in the room as Alaric moved to his knees. It felt like there was ice in her veins when he began to laugh. He turned to look at Stefan and said, "You're so weak." He pushed himself to his feet as he added, "Look at you. One of Nature's most hideous creatures, and you can't even get that right."

"You." Stefan said as he straightened.

"Me." Alaric's alter ego confirmed. It was actually terrifying to see how his eyes were dark. Not even when Klaus had been possessing him had he looked this terrifying. There was no light in his eyes at all, just a viciousness that seemed so out of character for the man that Ellie knew. It brought back memories of the other night, and an ache flared in her stomach where the knife had been.

"Where's the stake?" Stefan asked carefully as he stepped in front of Ellie.

"You're worse than I ever was. Spineless. Pathetic."

"Tell me where the stake is before I kill you."

Alaric laughed. "You know, you're all going to burn." He tilted his head slightly to get a better look at Ellie. "Maybe I'll burn you where the rest of those pathetic witches were murdered. At least they weren't so pathetically attached to vampires. You're more of a disgrace than they ever were. Ashes to dust."

Stefan didn't hold back as he punched Alaric again. "Don't talk to her like that. Ever ." He warned.

"Aw, and here I thought you were upset over Elena switching brothers. Are you switching sisters, Stefan?" Alaric mocked.

Stefan punched him again and then threw another punch for good measure. Blood was streaming down Alaric's face as Stefan shouted, "Where's the stake?" Alaric said nothing and all Ellie could do was watch as Stefan wrapped his arm around Alaric's throat and started to squeeze. "I'm gonna kill you in three, two, one-"

"It's in the cave." Alaric choked out. "Where no vampire can get it." He laughed darkly as Stefan slung him to the ground.

Ellie allowed Stefan to rush her out of the cell before he locked it behind them. She felt slightly conflicted about what had just happened, but given that Stefan was panting heavily, she was a little more worried about him. They had made it to the front foyer as Stefan texted away at someone, but Ellie looked up at the familiar energies in the parlor. "That wasn't too hard, was it?" Klaus asked with a small grin.

The three Originals were standing in the parlor and Ellie's focus instantly landed on Elijah. "Speak for yourself. I didn't particularly enjoy watching that." Ellie said. Stefan looked over at her before looking at them. "We just need to get that stake and destroy it."

"Absolutely." Klaus agreed as he went to pour himself a drink. Rebekah strolled off towards the basement and Ellie frowned as the blonde walked past. It took Stefan a moment to finally move, and by the time he did, Rebekah was already coming back with Alaric in tow. "It's a little gratuitous, don't you think, Stefan? I would have been more gentle."

"You're so full of shit." Ellie sassed. "That might have been a little more convincing if you hadn't snapped his neck a few hours ago."

Klaus laughed loudly at her comment. "Fair enough, little witch! I suppose you have a point."

"I'm going to take him to the caves. You're going to go inside and fetch me the stake." Rebekah informed them. "And if you think you can hide, you're wrong."

"Do you want me to go with you, Bekah? I could look for it." Ellie offered.

Rebekah gave her a funny look before she replied, "No, that's alright. It's a large cave and you could be searching for hours. It's quicker this way."

"And then there was one." Klaus said as Rebekah dragged Alaric out of the room. "I know about your brother's little mission to Denver. He failed. Not that that's news anymore."

"So what are you going to do now, Klaus? Are you gonna kill me?" Stefan asked boldly.

"I haven't actually decided yet." Klaus replied as he moved to sit comfortably on the couch.

"Oh, sure you have." Stefan shot back. "See, you've had every chance and every excuse imaginable to do it, but yet you haven't. Which means you don't want to."

Klaus, thankfully, didn't seem angry. "You know something, you're right. You see, I'm still waiting for my old friend to come back. And by the looks of it, he's just beneath the surface, waiting to come out and play. Isn't that right, Ripper?"

"I've been fighting that part of myself, thinking that if I repress it, it would go away. But it won't. And now that I've accepted it, it can't control me. And neither can you." Stefan explained and Ellie watched with interest as Klaus' smile faded slightly. "So, unless you're going to stake me, why don't you get the hell out of my house?"

The three of them watched as Stefan walked out of the room and headed for the stairs. "Well, alright then, let's go." Klaus said as he downed his glass.

"I'll be there in a bit." Ellie explained. When Klaus made a noise of protest, she added, "If you actually care about Stefan as your friend, don't be an ass. That wasn't an easy thing for him to do, ok?" Klaus nodded in understanding. Klaus walked out first, and before Elijah could leave, Ellie asked, "Is Bekah ok? Something seemed off with her."

Elijah nodded. "She's alright, for the most part. Mother… Esther, she came to the house. She died. Rebekah was with her when it happened."

"Oh my god." Ellie said in surprise. "I know that stuff with Esther was complicated, but I can't imagine that was easy for her after loving her for a thousand years. Are you alright?"

"Always so worried for us." Elijah said as he tucked her hair behind her ear. "I'm alright, I came to terms with her death a very long time ago. Are you coming back to the house?"

She hummed in confirmation. "I will as soon as I make sure Stefan is ok."

"I'll see you soon then." Elijah pressed a kiss to her hairline before he left the house.

Once the Mikaelsons were gone, Ellie made her way upstairs and found Stefan in his room. "What was that?" He asked.

"What was what?"

"Whatever that was with you and Elijah." He clarified.

Ellie made a face. "I'll fill you in on that later. Caroline will kill me if she's not the first person with all the details. But don't try to distract your way out of answering if you're ok or not."

"I'm fine, Ellie." He replied. Ellie made no attempt to hide the fact that she didn't believe him. "Being around the blood was difficult." He finally confessed. "I was worried that I was going to rip his throat out."

"We're friends, right? You know that we're friends, correct?"

Stefan gave her a look of confusion. "Yeah, of course I know we're friends."

"And you should know by now that I'd do anything for my friends." She continued. When Stefan still didn't seem to understand the point she was trying to make, she said, "Stefan, you're my friend, which means any time you go over the deep end, I'm gonna be there to drag your sorry ass back. So help me god, I'll get Lexi to help me if I have to."

That got a laugh out of him. "The two of you would have been such good friends. She would have loved you."

"I think so too." Ellie agreed. "We met once, on your birthday last year."

"You did?"

"Yeah. The moment she made it clear that she didn't like Damon was the moment I knew she was amazing." Ellie joked.

Stefan was grinning. "Yeah, that sounds like something Lexi would say. And thank you."

"For what?"

"Being my friend." Stefan replied. "After everything I did to kind of push everyone away after I turned my humanity back on… it means a lot that you're still here."

"We're bonded by trauma, Stefan. You couldn't get rid of me if you tried."

Author's Note:

Ok guys, I have a question that I really want your feedback on. Someone commented that I treat Ellie the way canon treated Elena that she could do no wrong. Is that what you guys think? I never intended for it to come off as that way if it does. Also in that same vein, would you guys want to see Ellie kind of fuck up? If so, what kind of mistake are you thinking. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review and let me know your thoughts!

To xenocanaan: Honestly, Ellie probably won't ever go so far as to kill Damon, even if she gets to a point where she's capable of killing someone, I don't think she'd do it because of everything she and Stefan have been through. If Care just kicked his ass one good time it would bring me so much joy.

To brigitm28: They really are like sisters. I think Rebekah is really thriving off of finally having a best friend/sister that won't betray her. Oh it most likely will lol. It's not that Stefan was really trying to scold her it was more of confusion that she let it happen. He gets it though, he just didn't really get it in the moment because his brother was hurt. They're definitely still on good terms.

To smilin steph: I love their friendship too.

To Qewbix: There's definitely going to be more of Ellie standing up to Elena. Damon and Ellie having a weird friendship would honestly be pretty fun.

To Guest: That would be satisfying wouldn't it? She doesn't deserve either of them.

To Daddy's LiL HeartBreaker: I'm glad you're finally caught up! And I'm glad you're enjoying it! There's probably going to be some more tweaks to the storylines in season 4 for continuity reasons, but they won't be very major. I absolutely love Katherine, and I want her to finally get to be happy. Jenna deserves happiness too. I need to figure out a plotline for her to get her happiness. Elena definitely needs to stop hurting Bonnie. Hope is definitely still going to be involved, because she's really what pushed Klaus to change for the better.

To flawsome4ever: Thank you so much!

To sumaiyahc06: That's really what I wanted too. Bekah has such a maternal instinct, and she's never really had a sister and since she was always the baby of her family, save for Henrik of course, that I think she really thrives in the opportunity to take care of someone that's so important to her.

To Guest(2): For Hayley, she and Elijah won't have any romantic interest with one another, but she of course is still going to be involved as she's Hope's mother. I don't intend for her to really be Klaus' love interest either, so we'll see who she ends up with. But she's definitely still going to be involved.

To AdiraBraelynn: Exactly, like no Bekah, I won't be telling you that I'm into your brother sorry. Klaus is definitely going to fuck up at some point, but it's Klaus so that's not surprising. She really did strike gold. I miss them too man. I can't remember how much they're in the rest of this season, but I plan to have them involved more in season 4. Ellie's definitely going to call out Elena. Stefan acknowledging how much Ellie cares for him would be really neat.

-Madame Magic

Posted: 3/13/21