Elijah and Kol had arrived shortly after, both of them freezing momentarily at the sight of Elena crouched on all fours, as far back into the Lockwood cellar as she could get.

Klaus sat a short distance in front of her, he was leant against the wall, knees pulled to his chest and his arms wrapped around them as he watched Elena carefully.

"Kol told me what's happening." Elijah said softly, appearing next to Elena. "You're going to be alright." He assured her, using a handkerchief to brush some of the sweat from her brow.

"We don't have long left, Elijah." Klaus warned, his voice surprisingly gentle.

"I understand." Elijah nodded, rubbing Elena's back as he looked at his brother. "Tell her what to do, Niklaus, she needs you."

Elena cried out again, breaking the gaze that the brothers shared as they both looked at her in worry.

"I'm scared." Elena whispered, leaning against Elijah.

"I know, it's alright, Elena." Elijah murmured, his words hardly sounding convincing, even to Elena's ears.

Seeing the desperation on Elijah's face, Klaus stepped back in, dragging Elena's gaze to his.

"The change will come quicker than you expect," Klaus explained, keeping his eyes locked on Elena's, "it happens so suddenly that you'll forget who you are, and who we are. You need some sort of trigger, a word, or a phrase, something that we can use to help you remember who you are."

Elena shook her head. "I-I don't know, Klaus, I can't think."

"It's okay." Klaus said quickly. "I know it's hard, but you have to think."

Another scream had Elena falling away from Elijah, her back arching as the transition began to take hold of her.

"It's time for you both to leave, I need to try and get hold of her before she sees either of you."

"Niklaus." Elijah forced out through gritted teeth, reluctant to leave Elena behind.

"Brother." Klaus murmured, drawing Elijah's eyes away from Elena. "Trust me."

They remained staring at each other for a moment, before Elijah let out a sigh and nodded. "We'll be right outside."

Klaus didn't bother to reply as Kol and Elijah disappeared from the cellar, slamming the door shut behind them.

"You've got this, Elena." Klaus murmured, backing away from the shifting girl to allow her room to change.

Faster than he even expected, he was faced with a white wolf. She growled at him, shifting back on her haunches, ready to attack, as her eyes glowed a brilliant blue.

"Well, that's new." Klaus muttered, shifting into a defensive position as he let his hybrid features take over his face.

A snarl ripped from his throat as he stared down the wolf in front of him, hoping that despite her additional species over him he would recognise her as a superior wolf to him. If that didn't work enough to get her thinking, then he wasn't really sure what his plan was.

The wolf tilted her head at him curiously, assessing the level of threat posed to her by the man in front of her. He was a wolf too, but he hadn't turned, that gave her an advantage over him she decided with a snarl, leaping at the man in front of her.

After a short tussle, Klaus sent Elena flying through the door of the Lockwood cellar with a grunt, so much for keeping her inside the cellar. He needed a new plan, he huffed, peeling off his top and shrugging off his trousers, rolling his neck as he let the urge to transition overcome him.

The two men in front of her shared a quick glance as they assessed her. The wolf growled at them, deciding which man to take out of the equation first; who posed the greatest threat? Suit or jeans?

"Elena?" Suit said softly, stepping towards her with his hands out in front of him. "It's me, Elijah, you're alright."

"Elijah…" Jeans warned, his gaze flicking between suit and herself.

Suit ignored his warning, taking another step towards her. She growled at him again, part of her brain recognising that the men in front of her were both vampires and she wanted to kill them, so why wasn't she?

"Elijah, seriously, I think you should back off."

She forced herself to relax, perhaps she could lull suit in and take out jeans in the aftermath. Suit smiled at her, falling for her trap, and took a few more small steps towards her.

"That's it, you're alright." He muttered, continuing to move closer to her.

The closer suit got, the harder it was to keep her body looking relaxed, one more step, she thought forcing herself to wait until he was close enough. Her lithe form sprang into action quickly, launching herself at the vampire in front of her.

As soon as she felt her teeth close around his arm, she was ripped away, her body crashing into a tree behind her. She fell to the floor with a solid thud, quickly getting to her feet, she turned back to her prey, surprised for a moment to find a black wolf crouched defensively in front of suit and jeans. Of course, she thought, irritated with herself for forgetting the wolf in the cellar.

The wolf growled at her as she paced, searching for a way past him to finish off suit. Gold eyes flashed at her as the wolf stalked towards her, growling again when she feinted to the right, testing his reactions.

They met in the air, a tussle of limbs before she found herself pinned under the black wolf. The wolf snapped at her, a low growl bringing part of Elena to the surface; she recognised the eyes above her; if nothing else, she recognised that this wolf was stronger than her.

She let out a soft whimper, flying to her feet when the wolf relinquished his hold on her. The wolf stalked back to the vampires, suit sat on the floor, a bloodied rip in the fabric on his forearm. Jeans crouched next to him, regarding her cautiously.

Curious, she mused, a wolf protecting vampires? She stared at the group in front of her with her head tilted slightly, wondering what situation she was in.

"Brother?" Suit asked, looking towards the wolf.

Brother? Why was that important?

Suit got to his feet, breaking her from any train of thought she'd been on as she watched him curiously, wondering why a vampire would be so foolish as to approach her again.

"It's alright, Elena." Was that her name? "We're your family, we won't hurt you."

Family, she mused, family was important, why was it important? Family, they were her family?

"Elijah." Elena croaked, suddenly finding herself standing on two feet again.

Elijah caught her before she hit the ground, holding her tightly against his chest as her legs buckled and slowly lowering them to the floor. His jacket was wrapped around her shoulders, maintaining a modicum of modesty, though Elena was unaware of her state of undress.

"I hurt you." Elena gasped through tears. "Elijah, I bit you! You-you told me that werewolf bites-"

Elijah shushed her, cutting off her panicked words. "I'll be fine, Elena, Niklaus's blood will heal me, I swear. Werewolf bites aren't fatal to Originals, Elena, I'm okay."

She looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears as she searched his face for any sign of deceit.

"I still hurt you." She muttered when she was satisfied he was telling her the truth.

"I knew the risks, Elena, I couldn't leave you out here."

A bag landed next to Elena with a soft thud, and she looked up, finding a human Klaus stood behind Elijah, he was dressed in new clothes and smiled at Elena softly. Kol was stood next to him and smiled at her also, relieved to see her human again and in the arms of Elijah.

"We'll go back to the house, I'm sure Rebekah will be worried out of her mind." Kol sighed. "We bought some clothes for you to change into." He nodded to the bag. "I'm glad you're okay." He smiled again, earning a soft smile from Elena in return.

Once his siblings had left, Elijah had turned his back to allow Elena to dress. Instead of returning Elijah's damaged jacket, she pulled it on over the t-shirt she'd been packed, inhaling the smell of Elijah's cologne for a moment before turning back to him.

He'd slung the backpack over his shoulder and stood completely still, looking out into the forest until he felt Elena's hand on his arm. He turned to look at her, smiling at her warmly.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as they begun the walk back to the Mikaelson mansion.

Elena shrugged. "Okay, I guess, I'm just pretty tired. Today's been…a lot."

"We should have told you." Elijah sighed, looking down at the floor as they walked.

"You had no way of knowing." Elena denied, shaking her head softly. "I know why you didn't tell me, and I understand." She laid a hand on his arm, drawing his gaze back to her.

"You're crying." Elijah said softly, stopping their walk and brushing away a tear on her cheek.

Elena brought her hand up to hold his to her face, closing her eyes as another tear fell. "I don't know why I'm doing that." Her voice was a soft whisper punctuated by a slight tremor as she swallowed thickly, leaning into Elijah's hand.

"What do you need from me?" Elijah asked, determined to give Elena whatever she needed from him, despite how he felt for her, if she wanted space he would give it to her.

"I don't know." Elena breathed, keeping her eyes firmly closed. He cared about her so much, it almost felt manipulative to ask for anything, despite what Klaus told her about her feelings coming to the surface.

She opened her eyes, her gaze focussing on the tear in the fabric of Elijah's shirt. The wound had healed superficially, but he needed Klaus's blood to heal him from her bite fully. He'd been so willing to place himself in harms way to help her, too willing she thought, remembering Theo. Despite Elijah and Klaus's assurances that he'd be fine, what if something more serious had happened?

"Elena."

His voice tore her gaze away from his arm, and she looked up at him, another tear falling from her eye.

"You can't put yourself in danger for me, Elijah." She said firmly, shaking her head when he went to argue. "You need to think about Theo, what if something serious happened to you?"

"What if I lost you?" Elijah argued, his other hand coming up to cup Elena's face. "I wouldn't survive losing you, Elena, not again."

"Theo-"

"Needs both of us."

Elena sighed, her eyes flicking away from Elijah's. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Hurting is a part of life, Elena." Elijah murmured. "It often exists outside our realm of control, but I can face anything I'm dealt with you by my side."

"Elijah-"

Elena cut herself off, her hands coming up between Elijah's to rub her forehead.

"Elena?" Worry suddenly bled into Elijah's voice, had he pushed her too far?

"My head hurts." Elena muttered, collapsing into Elijah's arms.

•••

I guess I have a thing for people collapsing into the arms of the one they love? Elena's been through a lot the last few days! I'm not sure anyone can blame her for passing out again!

As of yet, I don't have a plan for my ending of this story, I'm toying with leaving it semi-open to leave the potential for a sequel, but I'm not sure. If anyone has any ideas or wants to point out any loose ends I've left open, please please tell me! I've read back through the whole story (gosh my writing sucked, kudos if you've been here the whole time), but its easy for things to slip through the cracks when I'm writing in my head at the same time!

As always, I look forward to hearing from you all,

Much love

~ I x