What was going on with her? Elena had been walking for nearly fifteen minutes, and she couldn't figure out what was happening her. She was hearing voices and losing time? What the hell was wrong with her?

"Oh, I'm sorry." She muttered, as she bumped into someone, edging around them without looking up. That was until they grabbed her arm.

"Elena?" They asked, looking down at her with warm green eyes.

Elena shook her head softly. "I'm sorry, I think you're mistaking me for someone else." She smiled as politely as she could manage, trying to pull her arm from his grasp, hoping whoever this was would take the hint.

"Are you serious?" He scoffed. "We didn't end on the best note, but pretending you're not yourself? Seriously?"

"I'm sorry." Elena muttered again, not sure what sort of situation she'd gotten herself into as his hand tightened on her arm. "I don't know who you are." She said softly.

"Dammit, Elena, t's me, its Damon!" He said urgently, grabbing the tops of both of her arms and staring into her eyes intently, searching her face thoroughly for a few long moments before his features softened. "Do you really not remember me?"

"I don't." She whispered, shying away from his hold as much as she could. "I don't know who you are, I'm sorry."

"They've really done a number on you, haven't they?" Damon muttered, appearing to scan her body for any signs of harm. "Oh, Elena, we should never have let you leave with them." He whispered, letting go of one of her arms to brush a whisp of hair from her face.

"What are you talking about?" Elena said softly, trying not to set off the stranger in front of her.

"The Originals." He said, like it was obvious. "They must've compelled you to forget." He shook his head, moving his hand to grab her wrist. "Come on, I know someone who can shake their compulsion."

"I'm not going anywhere with you." Elena snapped, digging her heels in when Damon tried to drag her along. "I don't have a clue who you are!"

"Dammit, Elena, don't you see that's the problem?" He hissed, spinning to face her again. "They compelled you to forget so you wouldn't leave them!"

Elena jumped at the sudden harshness, she'd definitely gotten herself into something she didn't understand. "I'm not going with you." She said firmly, pulling at his hold on her.

"Then I'm sorry about this." Damon muttered, snapping her neck in one quick movement.

•••

"You let her go out for a walk?" Elijah shouted, glaring at his younger brother.

"I didn't let her!" Klaus retorted. "She just left!"

"Why did you let her leave?" Elijah snapped. "You should've stopped her!"

"You wanted us to keep her prisoner her?" Klaus snapped back, watching as his words made his older brother deflate.

"She doesn't remember anything, Niklaus, she wouldn't know if she was in danger until it was too late." He muttered, his anger at his brother quickly replaced by worry for Elena. "How long has she been gone?"

"About half an hour." Klaus sighed, relaxing now that he recognised Elijah's anger had waned. "She was quite rattled this morning, Elijah, with whatever happened with Theo, and…she's probably just trying to clear her head."

Elijah let out a long sigh, rubbing his brow. "Yeah, I hope that's all."

•••

When Elena woke up, her wrists were chained above her and she was hanging from a hook in the ceiling. She thought she was in some sort of basement, but she wasn't really sure; she definitely didn't recognise it, although, that wasn't saying much when the only place she remembered was the Mikaelsons mansion.

"Elena."

Her head jerked in the direction of the voice, recognising the same man that she'd run into on the street, although his name had already fled her mind.

"I'm sorry we have to do it this way." He muttered, coming closer to her. "But we have to get this compulsion out of your system."

"I'm not compelled." She said softly. "You have to believe me, I'm not."

"I wish I could believe you, Elena, but they can compel you to forget too." He sighed, brushing his hand on her cheek softly. "There's only one way to be sure."

He stepped away from her as a young woman entered the room, dark hair down loosely around her shoulders. The newcomer walked up to her and placed her hands either side of her head. "This is gonna hurt." She muttered, not seeming all too sympathetic.

A searing pain shot through her head, dragging a scream from her throat.

•••

By the time the witch left her alone, Elena could barely stand, almost grateful for the chains holding her up, but wishing she could crawl into the corner. With a shuddering breath, she closed her eyes, trying her hardest to shut away any sensations of pain; they weren't going to stop, she just had to hope someone found her.

In the silence of the room, she suddenly noticed a soft buzz in the back of her mind. With a frown she prodded at it softly, gasping when she felt a wave of emotion flood her mind. What was that?

Taking another calm breath, reminding herself that this was better than sitting around all to aware of the pain in her head, she poked at the unfamiliar feeling in her brain, feeling a wave of anxiety wash over her as she did so.

The more that she prodded at the feeling, the more familiar it felt, she just couldn't quite put her finger on why.

She wished Kol was here, she mused, he'd distract her at least, rather than having to prod around in her own mind.

"Elena."

She jumped at the sound, her eyes flying open, but he hadn't come back with his witch to torture her some more. Was she just hearing voices again? She huffed, her head hanging.

"I'm in your head, Elena, it's Kol."

"Kol." Elena whispered, her head shooting back up to look around the room, despite what he'd just told her. "How are you doing that?"

"It doesn't matter." He dismissed quickly. "Where are you, Elena? We're all worried sick."

"I don't know." Elena whispered, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. "I don't know where I am, Kol."

"It's okay, it's gonna be alright, Elena." Kol said softly, his voice calming the panic Elena could feel beginning to rise. "Just tell me what happened."

"I ran into him on the street." Elena muttered. "I didn't know who he was, but he kept saying that the Originals must have compelled me to forget." A tear rolled down her cheek. "What did he mean, Kol?"

Kol sighed, how he communicated a sigh, she wasn't sure. "I promise, we will explain everything when you're back, Elena, but this is important now, did he tell you his name?"

"Y-yeah." She whispered, wracking her brain trying to remember. "I-I don't remember what he said though, Kol, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She muttered again, hanging her head in shame.

"It's okay, Elena. What does he look like?"

Elena went to describe him, but Kol started talking again.

"This might be difficult, Elena, but I want you to try and picture him, picture him as clearly as you can, and try and think about sending that image to me. Just try and stay calm, Elena." Kol murmured, clearly sensing that what he was asking was making Elena panic. "Please, just breath, trust me."

Elena took a shuddering breath, closing her eyes again as she tried to remember what he looked like, she thought about his raven black hair, and his green eyes. It took all she had to keep herself calm and remembering, but she had to trust Kol.

Somehow, she knew when it had worked; she didn't really understand it, but she had some sort of bond to Kol, she could tell that he knew what she'd seen, as crazy as that sounded to her own ears.

"Kol?" She whispered, beginning to panic when he didn't reply. "Kol, are you there?"

"I'm here." He muttered back, a dark undercurrent lining his voice. "You did a great job, Elena, we're gonna get you out of there."

"Please hurry." She whispered, hearing a door close-by open, knowing that the witch was coming back again.

She was by herself this time, no sight of the guy that had bought her here.

"You don't have to do this." Elena whispered, wary that the vampire that had taken her might be hanging around and trying her best to get through to the witch. "Please, I'm not compelled, you can let me go."

"I know you're not." The witch muttered back, staring at Elena.

"Then, why are you doing this?" Elena breathed, looking back at her in abject horror. "If you know I'm not compelled then why?"

"I don't like your kind." She muttered, grinning at Elena before beginning her spell over again.

•••

Elena woke to the sound of something smashing above her head. Looking around the room, she desperately tried to find anything that she could potentially use to defend herself if whoever came downstairs wanted to harm her even more.

When she found nothing she sighed; she'd just have to hope she could catch them off guard by fighting back, they wouldn't be expecting that. She felt victorious for a moment, it would just take one look at the state of her and no-one would expect her to have the energy to fight back, it was a perfect plan! Except, did she have the energy to fight back?

She had to, she decided; hearing something else break above her.

Waiting for someone to come through the door, she tried her hardest to steel her nerves to face whoever would come through it.

What she wasn't expecting was for Elijah to burst through the door. He paused for a brief second, his eyes boiling with fury as he looked over Elena's pale form before they softened with worry, and he darted over to stand in front of her.

His hands came up to frame her face as he looked at her intently, concern and anguish painting his features.

"Oh, Elena, I'm sorry." Elijah said quietly, not able to meet her eyes anymore as he took in her ragged state. "We should have warned you what could have happened to you outside the mansion…I should have checked on you after what happened with Theo yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Elena frowned.

Elijah nodded cautiously. "It's early hours on Wednesday, you've been gone nearly 24 hours."

Elena nodded softly, groaning at the amount of effort it took. "Elijah…" She murmured, drawing his eyes back up to meet hers. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Elijah breathed, feeling like the air had been knocked out of him, what on earth did she have to apologise for? She couldn't possibly be apologising for being kidnapped, could she?

"I shouldn't've kissed you." She muttered, looking down as a tear fell from her eye. "It's not fair to you…I hurt you, I know I did, I'm so sorry, Elijah."

"Elena…" Elijah said softly, gently putting a finger under her chin to lift her gaze back to meet him. "Don't apologise for your emotions." He shook his head when she went to argue with him and brought his hand up to cup the side of her face. "You don't ever have to apologise to me for trying to figure out who you are. I can't possibly know what you're going through, Elena, but it's not easy, I know that much…and, I have a duty of care, to look after you; you might not remember, but I gave you my word, and that's very important to me."

Elena smiled softly as the sincerity of Elijah's words was abundantly clear to her, somewhere in the back of her mind, she had to wonder what this other Elena had done to warrant such devotion from him. Pushing the thought back, she dropped her head slightly as she felt her energy waning again, leaning into Elijah's hand further.

"Put your arms around me." Elijah instructed softly, noticing Elena slipping away.

She groggily moved her arms so that he could step between them and lift her off the hook, her arms tightening around his neck as she tried to keep herself upright, stumbling slightly as there was no longer anything holding her up.

"Woah, I've got you." Elijah murmured, embracing the trembling girl tightly, keeping her on her feet and giving her some semblance of security. "I've got you." He repeated, closing his eyes for a moment as he hugged her.

Kol darted into the doorway, tension seeping from his body as he saw Elena safe in Elijah's arms. Elijah's eyes opened when he felt his brother's presence in the doorway, and he turned slightly to look at him, nodding his head in a small movement; watching as the rest of the worry in his younger brother's body drained away.

Gently, Elijah lifted Elena's chained hands from around his neck, snapping both of the cuffs off quickly, determined to get her out of this hellhole and back to their mansion.

Elena was grateful to be held up by Elijah for a few moments as she found her feet; she hadn't realised how heavy the chains on her wrists were until they were off, and she hadn't realised quite how much they had been holding her upright either, foolishly she thought she'd pretty much been standing.

Her eyes focussed on a figure just behind Elijah and she frowned at him, taking in the slightly long hair that parted to either side of his face and the dishevelled state of the dark shirt and jacket he wore. His lips were moving, but she couldn't hear any words.

"'Lijah…" She murmured, listening to him hum in reply, gently standing her completely upright and looking into her eyes. "You didn't tell me you had a twin?" She muttered, promptly passing out in Elijah's arms.

•••

I know I've said this before, but this story should be drawing to a close pretty soon. This chapter and the last have both been churned out pretty quickly after being hit buy a busload of inspiration for them, and I'm really hoping that inspiration will carry me to finish this story and give it the closure it deserves.

Reading through the whole of this story, its crazy how much my writing has changed and the sheer amount of people who read my crappy writing to begin with and stuck with it, hopefully I'll get this story finished off for you all quickly, and for anyone who's reading this, I really really would love to hear from you in a review, it'd be nice to know there's people out there who want this story finished off too.

~ I xx