Elena paced nervously as she watched Freya as she completed the spell circle. So much had happened in the last two years. All the vampires in the world are gone, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst was she lost the person she could always count on and trusted to always be there for his family. The father of her little Miranda, wherever she is, Elena prayed that what she was about to do in the past, that the future would still have her daughter in it. Freya and she are about to change history and she prayed that it will be enough.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You know what will happen to you even if we do succeed in sending you back?" Freya asked gently. Elena had grown to count on the oldest Mikaelson even before she'd lost him. She was scared, but this would be the last time for her at least as she faced death in its face.

"Freya, we have no other choice we have to warn them." Elena replied.

"Do you have the two thumb drives with you?"

"Yes… Freya?" She only needed one of them, but the other was a backup in case she lost the first.

"Elena?"

"Thank you for doing this."

"What are sisters for? Always and Forever."

"Always and Forever." Elena repeated. Trying not to cry, she knew what she was about to do was a one-way trip and her ultimate fate for tampering with time itself.

"Please step into the circle now and I will need some of your blood." Freya ordered before producing a small silver knife.

"Gotta love that Doppelgänger blood it's like magical duct tape."

"Duct tape?"

"Ah… It's not important." Elena sighed hold up her palm she tried not to wince as the witch and her only friend now sliced deeply into her palm. Her blood dripped down into the bowl. The moment it touched the inside of the vessel, the surrounding candles flared bright. Elena couldn't follow Freya's chanting and she didn't even know how it would feel until she felt more than heard a wheezing, groaning sound coming from all around. She turned to look at Freya when the world turned black.

Pain her body ached, and it felt hard to breathe. Yet somehow she stood up and stumbled forward. She had to get there before she finally succumbed after having violated one of natures fundamental laws.

Somehow she found her way to Klaus's home he'd built for his family. Ironic that in her time it was a smoking ruin of the building. Navigating her way through the mansion, she followed the voices.

"Mother?" Elena could even from here hear the shock in Rebekah's voice. She moved as fast as her fading body would allow. The thumb drives were thankfully still clutched in her now trembling hand. She prayed that she didn't drop them.

"Look at me! Do you know why I'm here?" Esther's voice demanded. Elena didn't have to guess who she was talking to when her tormentor spoke in a hesitant, almost fearful voice and even now, after everything he'd done to her and her friends, she felt pity for the man.

"You're here to kill me."

Elena was almost there her heart was beating slower now she could tell, but she needed to get there before she was gone. Just a little further now, she pleaded with whatever deity would listen to her at that moment.

"Niklaus, you are my son and I am here to forgive you. I want us to be a family again." Esther explained and if she was going to say anything else it was cut short when everyone in the room but her caught sight of her leaning against the door frame. Almost too weak to stand.

"Elena?"

She didn't know who had spoken her name, but she smiled when familiar arms caught her before she collapsed to the ground. She must look worse than she felt his worried expression morphed into resolve as he held up his wrist to bite into it. Elena knew that it wouldn't work, but she was still touched by his attempt at helping her. She reached up and stopped him with a hand before pressing the thumb drive into his palm. The look of confusion almost broke her heart.

"It… It won't do me any good. There are just some laws of nature which cannot be violated without a sacrifice. Time travel is not without exception. Take this watch it and don't make the same mistakes we did. Protect our family." Elena launched into a fit of coughing that left a wet feeling on her lips. The darkening veins around his eyes meant she was coughing up blood now. Almost in time, just a little more, she pleaded. "Save our little Miranda, Elijah." She would've laughed at his startled reaction, but time was too precious to waste. Her vision was fading fast, yet somehow she sought out the blurred image of the Original Witch.

"You… Your daughter… Fr… Freya sends her regards and…. And to… tell you that… that she forgives you bu… but don't make anymore mistakes like you did when with the bargain you made with Dahlia."

"Elena?" Elijah asked, and she wanted to speak to him one final time, but it was too late. Darkness filled her world and only Oblivion her only companion now. Her last thoughts were a silent prayer that it had been enough.

Elijah was still trying to process the fact that his mother had somehow returned, but then Elena Gilbert stumbled into their midst looking like they did when daggered, but by her scent he could tell she was still human. Her thready heart beat alarmed him and when she crumpled to the floor he'd reacted out of need he couldn't explain, but he wanted to protect and cherish her. He wasn't going to allow her to die, so he did what his kind did when faced with losing a mortal.

Why did she stop him and instead hand him a thumb drive? What was so important that he needed that than saving her life but her voice raw with regret and other things he didn't want to name spoke of things he was having trouble believing. The look of shock on his siblings and mother's face meant he wasn't the only one feeling bewildered by the turn of events this evening.

He started to ask question but only could speak her name before she succumbed to whatever had taken her from this world. Looking at her still form, then the thumb drive. He looked at his brother for support. Klaus was more update on this century's technology than he was he'd know what to do.

"Brother?" He didn't have to say anything more than a group Klaus lead them into a larger room with a large flat panel television screen. He had to give it to his half brother he didn't spare any expense. Wordlessly, he handed the drive to his brother, who then turned and plugged it into some machine before he stepped back with a remote. The screen flickered on and Elijah realized that it was a video recording. Klaus hit play on his remote and they watched in stunned silence. For two of his brothers, the wonder of technology must have been too much since they starred at the video playing with mouths agape.

"Elijah and family. I know that my appearance must have come as a shock and I'm sorry, but we had no other choice to but risk it. I volunteered to be how should I put it the sacrificial lamb. The laws of nature don't abide being violated with and, as a result, will have extracted a heavy toll. Time travel into ones own past will not allow two copies of the same being to exist. Freya took steps to ensure that I would the be the one to succumb, not my past version of myself. Right now she is safe at home, oblivious to the events unfolding now. Please show her this video so she can understand better and help in whatever way she can. It will be a shock for her as I strongly suspect it will be for all of you, especially you Elijah." The image of a future Elena paused before continuing, looking as if she was about to impart some unpleasant news. Not surprisingly, it was, and it almost made him want to kill their mother if not for the lovely Elena speaking from beyond the proverbial grave.

"Esther, I know what you're planning to do and I will tell you that in my time you were partially successful, all but Elijah succumbed to the linking spell when you killed your children. I know you were attempting to correct your supposed mistakes from the past, but the Spirits of Nature don't need you or anyone else telling it them how to balance things. They do what they have done since before humanity walked the earth they adapt and overcome. That is what nature did when you created Vampires. Everyone! When an Original dies, all the vampires they have sired in their respective bloodlines die shortly after. In my time when Finn, Kol, Rebekah, and even Klaus die, all the vampires from their bloodlines go with them. Esther, how do you think the world handled tens of thousands of bodies of dead vampires and humanity finally discovers the supernatural world as the result? Absolute chaos with the modern world information can spread like a virus and when the truth came out war resulted and millions of innocent people lost their lives on both sides. Elijah did what he could to keep us safe, but I eventually lost him so and many of my friends, even my brother Jeremy, died because of you, Esther!" Elena hissed.

"How is that for balancing the scales? Do you feel vindicated? How much blood on your hands is enough? The only joy is that you died too in my time. You told me once that you watched from the other side what your children wrought upon the world, not for the first time have I wondered what you were thinking? As you watched the world burn!" Elena hissed again, but a hand came from off screen to calm her down enough to finally speak again.

"Elijah, you and your siblings should know that quite by accident, you and I discovered just how powerful Doppelgänger blood can be. I won't go into specifics because frankly, that is between you and me, but I will say that you were there for me when all was lost, as was I for you, and we found comfort in that. Nine months later our little Miranda Astrid Mikaelson was born and despite the hell that had become the norm for the world we found a peace of heaven."

Elijah looked at the screen stunned the hateful looks his siblings were giving their mother felt more than justified he was amazed that none of them had turned on her the moment the visage of the beauty on the screen told them what had transpired in her time. He felt that she was leaving some things out, but he didn't fault her for that this was enough. The fact that he and she would have a child was amazing and if what she said was true, then even his little sister would finally get to have a child of her own. Elena started speaking, and he turned his attention back and his heart stopped.

"For a short time we did find quasi peace, that is, until Freya showed up told us about her aunt Dahlia."

Another face joined the video pickup, a blond attractive woman with familiar features Elijah realized that they were a mixture of his mother and father. The woman looked sad, but like Elena beside her, she was determined as well and he had to smile at that similarity between them.

"Hello Mother. I strongly suspect you're asking yourself how have I survived this long right about now and I will sum it up with one word. Dahlia. She was angered beyond belief when she learned what you had done with my brothers and only sister. You broke your promise, and she wanted revenge, but she only had me at the time. She created her own version of an immortality spell, which she linked to me, too. We sleep for a one hundred years and are awake for a single year. And after a thousand years, our magic have grown to unbelievable levels. Some of you might recognize me from somewhere and you'd be right. At some point, I managed to escape from Dahlia and afterwards I went in search of my family. In nineteen fourteen, I finally caught up with you in New Orleans." Freya said calmly.

Elijah looked about the room his mother stood as a statue watching her daughter on screen he could only imagine what she was thinking at the moment. He saw his brother Finn glaring at his mother and he didn't understand why Finn had always favored his mother beyond all else, so what had changed? Kol looked a little green, which was impressive for a vampire, and Rebekah looked thoughtful, as if she was recalling a forgotten memory.

"It was during a Christmas party that Kol was my date for the evening. He thought I was a powerful witch he could impress, but I was only interested in seeing my expanded family. Sorry Kol for leaving so early, but after watching Klaus dagger you in public, I needed to leave. All of you should know that when mother and father were married she was having difficultly conceiving and in desperation went to her sister for help. The price she exacted from mother was too great and she should have known better. Our mother promised her first born witch of every descendant of hers to our aunt. So it must have come as a shock to our mother when Dahlia showed up to collect me and corrected our mother's misunderstanding of how Dahlia had worded their little arrangement."

Elijah had not until now realized why their mother had been so precise when speaking with others while growing up. He had picked up on that particular trait of his mothers and found it used to his on advantage at times. He silenced his inner thoughts when Elena started speaking again.

"So it came as a shock to me and Elijah when Freya showed up one morning on our literal doorstep with the news that Dahlia was coming for our daughter, Miranda. We tried to fight her off when she made her appearance, but it wasn't enough. We were lacking Elijah's siblings and Esther herself to finally defeat her. Elijah, you were so brave and fought for us but she killed you and took our daughter away." Elena sobbed and finally broke down on screen Elijah wanted to reach into the screen to comfort her but had to watch as a sister he didn't know except through stories from his late father held her in her arms. Freya turned her face to the video pickup and, with her own tears, mingled with Elena's added.

"I know how to defeat Dahlia, but I will need all of your help to accomplish it. You can find me sleeping in a glass coffin in the Dowager Fauline Cottage in New Orleans. Mother will know how to wake me up. Despite our dysfunctional family with all of its faults, I still love you all, including you mother. Help us make a better world because the alternative will only bring despair and death."

The video ended, and the stunned silence of the room was profound enough that it felt like time itself had stopped. The thought of time set his body into motion before he knew what he was doing. He rushed back into the room they had left her and he actually stumbled when he caught sight of her remains. He gently picked up the dessicated remains of the woman that had become the mother of his child he kept his emotions in check as he took in her mummified body. Whatever magics had been used to send her back into time had not been kind to her. He could barely recognize her. It still took him a minute to realize that they were not alone. Looking up at his family, he saw a multitude of differing emotions on each of their faces. What to do? What would lovely Elena do at this moment in time?

"We owe it to her to make a better go this time around. Don't you think?"

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I have allowed this timeline to exist because it underscores the importance of not messing with time only a select few beings can travel through time without ill effect and only with the proper technology. Take this sad story to heart and know that as the last remaining of Time Lords I have allowed this passage through our domain as a warning. Don't make me repeat myself. Or you'll find yourself in a very small universe when I'm angry with you.

The Doctor