When Elena woke up, she was led on a soft bed. She let out a low groan and rolled over to her side, bringing a hand up rub her eyes; the added pressure relieving some of the pain behind them.
Slowly opening her eyes, she took in the unfamiliar room around her. It looked like a hotel room, she frowned, how the hell had she ended up here?
She sat up, too quickly, and grimaced, fighting the urge to be sick. With more effort than it should've been, she through the comforter off of her body, and swung her legs to hang off the side of the bed. Elena closed her eyes for a moment, the movements making her feel dizzy. When she felt slightly more steady, she stood from the bed she was on, again taking in her surroundings; this place was seriously fancy.
Realising she could hear hushed voices, she followed them, opening the door she found herself in front of. The door opened to a large lounge area, confirming Elena's thoughts about just how fancy a hotel she was in, this must be a penthouse she thought, nodding slightly in approval.
Stefan and Damon stood with their backs to Elena; Damon was arguing with Rebekah, who was lounging comfortably on a sofa in the centre of the room. An armchair sat at an angle to the end of the sofa; it was occupied by Elijah, the only one in the room to notice that Elena was awake.
He looked up at her tiredly, his normally astute face was drawn and pale; he looked exhausted. A small sheen of sweat glazed his brow, drawing attention to the slight greying of his skin. Despite all of this, he met Elena's eyes, raising an eyebrow at her, as if asking if she planned on entering the room.
"You look like crap."
Elena's voice cut over the arguing vampires, reducing them to silence as they turned to look at her.
Elijah quirked one side of his mouth slightly. "I could say the same about you."
Elena pouted. "You wouldn't be so crass; it might hurt my feelings."
Elijah scoffed. "Your switch is off, Elena, you don't care."
"Yeah, that's true." She shrugged, sauntering into the room and flopping down on the opposite end of the sofa to Rebekah.
"We were just telling Barbie here that we're taking you home." Damon said, his voice tight as he glared at Rebekah, arms crossed over his chest.
"No." Elena scoffed before Rebekah could start arguing with the older Salvatore brother again. "I told you both, I'm done with Mystic Falls. Besides, Arizona's supposed to be nice." She shrugged.
"You're not going to Arizona, Elena." Rebekah cut in, fed up with the Salvatores arguing. "We are going to New Orleans."
"We?" Elena asked, raising a curious eyebrow, surely Rebekah didn't mean Stefan and Damon were coming.
"Elijah is coming with us." Rebekah replied, watching Elena as she tilted her head and stared at her brother for a moment with pursed lips for a moment, before nodding in approval. "New Orleans has one of the largest witch populations in the world, I figure that's the best place for us to go to try and understand why you're both ill."
Elena shrugged, not giving the Salvatore brothers a chance to get a word in edgeways. "Fine by me, I've always wanted to go to Mardi Gras." She grinned at Rebekah, noticing that although the blonde smiled back at her it didn't quite reach her eyes.
The Salvatores immediately started arguing with Rebekah and trying to talk sense into Elena; she ignored them both, setting her gaze on Elijah.
The Original was staring back at her, his head tilted slightly, almost like he was examining her; trying to figure out what was going on in her emotionless head, she was sure. Elena raised an eyebrow at Elijah, daring him to ask the question that must be playing on his mind, smiling at him when he copied her action, quirking an eyebrow back at her.
Damon crouched in front of her, gripping the tops of her arms and shaking her slightly. "Stop this crap, Elena! You're coming back to Mystic Falls with us, and you're flipping your stupid switch back!"
"Get off of her, Damon!" Rebekah snapped, tearing the younger vampire away from Elena and throwing him up against the wall, a slender hand wrapped around his throat. "Elena has made her feelings towards returning to Mystic Falls very clear; she wants to do no such thing and you will respect her wishes."
"I suggest you listen to my sister, Mr Salvatore." Elijah cut over Damon's pathetic attempt at talking around Rebekah's hand choking him. "I am quickly losing patience with your insolence, and I presume you would like to keep your heart in your chest."
Stefan tried to cut into the conversation, drawing Elijah's attention to him, but before he could get a word out, Elijah was talking again, this time to Stefan.
"By all means, go back to Mystic Falls yourselves, collect your friends if you so choose," Elijah looked at Elena, meeting her amused eyes, "but Elena, Rebekah and I are travelling to New Orleans without you and your brother."
After a tense moment of silence, Stefan nodded slowly, making Rebekah grin and drop Damon from where she was holding him. He fell in a pile on the floor, coughing and holding his throat with a grimace, Stefan appeared next to him, checking on his brother quickly before helping him stand.
"You can't be serious." Damon wheezed, glaring at his brother. "You actually think we should leave her with them?"
"We need to pick our battles, Damon." Stefan murmured, looking at Elena. "This isn't one we can win; we'll meet them in New Orleans." He said, turning his gaze to Elijah, who tilted his head in acknowledgement of Stefan's words.
Stefan hustled his brother from the hotel room with one last glance at Elena, who'd already turned her attention back to Elijah.
Elena grinned at the Originals in front of her as the door shut. "Well that was fun." She smirked, surprised when Elijah rolled his eyes at her, the illness that was affecting them both must be having more of an impact on Elijah than they realised.
"Bloody Salvatores." Rebekah muttered in response to Elena, sitting back on the sofa with a huff and a flick of her hair. "I don't know what you ever saw in them."
Elena laughed. "Neither do I, Bekah, they don't know when to leave well enough alone."
Elijah let out a low breath, closing his eyes again and leaning against the back of the chair. "Sister, I don't suppose I could bother you for a drink?"
Rebekah's head snapped in her brother's direction, quickly taking in his pained features and disappearing into the kitchen to warm a bag of blood for him.
"You alright?" Elena asked, surprisingly softly for her lack of emotions.
Elijah opened his eyes, raising his eyebrows at her curiously. "I didn't think you cared."
Elena scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I don't. But it seems that we're both suffering from the same thing; just want to know what to expect."
Elijah studied her features for a moment, quirking his lips slightly. "My mistake." He said softly, his eyes flitting away from Elena for a second, before looking back at her. "How long do you plan on keeping your switch off?"
"I didn't think you cared." Elena retorted. "What happened to not wanting to be near me like this?"
"We clearly don't have any choice in the matter." Elijah sighed, turning his focus to the doorway behind Elena. "Since we are none the wiser to how long we will have to be in each other's company, I thought I should at least find out how long to expect…this." He gestured absently in her direction, drawing a laugh from Elena.
"Don't worry, Elijah, I'll be out of your hair as soon as possible."
That drew his gaze back to Elena, his brow furrowed as he looked at her. "Where will you go?"
Elena shrugged. "Anywhere, everywhere. "I've been stuck in Mystic Falls my whole life, Elijah, I want to see the world, away from anyone who would change who I am." She said, with a pointed look in his direction.
"You think I want to change you?"
"You don't?" She asked, innocently, laughing again when he looked away from her. "You don't like this version of me, Elijah, we both know it, not enough of that…what was it? Oh yeah, compassion! Your poor little damsel Elena isn't here anymore."
"I meant what I wrote in that letter, Elena. I hope you know that." He murmured, emphasising that he meant the other Elena.
"Which part?" Elena retorted, refusing to let him get at her. "The part where you said my compassion was a gift, or where you signed it always and forever?" She grinned, hearing Rebekah falter in her actions slightly and amused by the quick grimace she saw flash across Elijah's features.
"All of it." He replied, surprising Elena, she genuinely thought he was going to dodge her question. "You're not a child, Elena, I won't lie to you." He supplied, noting the flash of emotion behind the brunette's eyes for a second before she quickly smothered it.
They sat in silence for a moment as Elena mulled over Elijah's words.
"What's your plant then?" Elena drawled. "To get my precious humanity back."
Elijah shrugged. "I don't have one."
"Seriously?" Elena laughed. "You've been crying about my poor humanity all day, but you don't have a plan to get it back?"
"You are your own person, Elena; you have your own choices to make, whether I agree with them or not is irrelevant." He sighed, straightening his suit jacket, what was taking Rebekah so long?
Again, Elena laughed, slightly hysterically. "Wow, if I'd known all I had to do to be able to make my own choices was to kiss Elijah Mikaelson, I'd've done it ages ago!"
Elijah narrowed his eyes at her, clearly irritated with her, which only made Elena laugh harder. After a moment, her laughter turned to coughs, making Elijah straighten in his chair involuntarily, concerned.
"Elena?" He asked softly, her panicked eyes rising to meet his momentarily, before she fell from her seat on the sofa, her whole body wracked by vicious coughs.
Elijah was by her side in a heartbeat, ignoring the fuzziness in his head at the quick movement. Rebekah was by their side in another beat, holding out a glass of blood to Elena.
"Drink this." She urged, Elijah taking the glass from her when it was clear Elena couldn't steady herself enough to take it.
With Rebekah's help, they managed to sit Elena up against Elijah's chest, the older vampire muttering quietly to Elena to try and calm her bout of coughing. He pressed the glass against Elena's lips as soon as there was a break in her coughs, forcing the blood into her mouth.
As the attack subsided, Elena took the glass in her own hands, guzzling the little liquid that remained. When the glass was empty, she fell back against Elijah, eyes shut and breathing heavily.
Rebekah took the glass from Elena's hands almost automatically, disappearing back into the kitchen. She returned quickly, a blood bag for each of the sick vampires in her hands.
Elena opened her eyes at the sound of the plastic, eagerly taking the bag that Rebekah extended to her. Elijah took his hand from Elena's hair, – haphazardly thrown over her left shoulder by him to keep it out of the way of the glass of blood – taking his bag of blood much more calmly than Elena.
Surprisingly, Elena remained leaning against Elijah after she finished her drink, the hand that remained on her shoulder grounding her against the sickness she felt.
When Elijah finished his bag he looked to Rebekah who was watching the couple with concerned eyes.
"I presume the jet is ready?" He said softly, placing his empty blood bag on top of Elena's discarded one.
Rebekah nodded. "I'll tell them to be expecting us sooner than we had planned." She cast another brief look in their direction as she pulled her phone from her pocket and walked back into the small kitchenette that the penthouse provided them with.
"Are you alright?" Elijah asked, his attention turned back to the doppelganger in his arms.
Elena let out a sharp laugh, devoid of any actual humour. "I can safely say the second time round is no better than the first." She cleared her throat, finally pulling away from Elijah, his hand falling from her shoulder as she launched to her feet, turning to face him.
He looked almost…human, Elena mused, staring at the Original who knelt before her. He met her eyes, raising an eyebrow slowly as if to ask what her plan was now.
Vulnerability, Elena thought, reading the emotion on his face that she could, it wasn't something she associated with the man who stared up at her.
"Do you tire of being so human?" She asked Elijah, folding her arms over her chest when he laughed at her, shaking his head slowly.
"I can't say I expected you to ever ask that of me." A soft smile played at his lips making Elena narrow her eyes at him.
"You said you wouldn't lie to me." She reminded him, prompting another smile.
"I haven't." Elijah shrugged, sighing when Elena only raised an eyebrow at him, refusing to say anything else until he answered her question. "I'm not sure I would call myself such, let alone grow tired of it."
That drew a genuine laugh from Elena. "Look at yourself, Elijah! So concerned for little Elena Gilbert." She sneered. "You can't deny your humanity when I can see it written on your face!"
Elijah was stood in front of her in an instant, staring down at her, Elena was sure he was hoping for fear in her eyes, but she only smirked at him, tilting her head in amusement. "Careful, Elena." He whispered, dropping his head to her ear and drawing a small shudder from Elena as the movement made her remember the first time they'd met. "Your emotions are showing."
Before she could retort, Elijah was gone.