Ryan pulled up in front of the house in his classic Chevrolet Corvette and Elena stood up, her heart pounding.
"You'll come back, right?" Jenna caught Elena's hand when she realized what was happening.
"I'll be back, I promise."
Jenna threw her arms around Elena's waist, clinging to her.
"You shouldn't have to do this," Jenna whispered.
"He's cut off from himself, unbalanced and tortured, and I'll come back to life. So, I'll be okay, I promise." Elena rubbed Jenna's back and pressed her cheek against her aunt's shoulder.
"I should be there."
"No, Aunt Jenna. It's too dangerous. Once he turns, he'll be out of control and I won't risk you being around him like that." She swallowed thickly and then admitted, "That and I don't want you to see me die."
She couldn't bear the thought. Watching Jenna die had been one of the worst things of her last life and she wouldn't let Jenna have to watch her die. Jenna already felt horrible about not being able to stop this, so having that memory would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Elena stepped back and cupped her aunt's cheek. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Tears trickled down Jenna's face and Elena brushed them away.
"I love you, Aunt Jenna."
Elena turned away and Jenna choked back sobs, bringing tears to Elena's eyes. The doppelganger took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders, and continued down the side walk. It was time to save Klaus and open the door for Hope to exist.
When she got to the car, Ryan opened the door for her.
"Elijah and Klaus were delivering the other two to the sacrifice site when I left and he's got the potion there."
"Did you bring the vial I asked for?" Elena asked.
"Yes." Ryan pulled a small glass jar with a cork in the top out of his pocket and handed it to her. "What do you need it for?"
"I've got a feeling I'm going to need this potion again, but I'll need to reverse engineer it. So, I'll be saving a small portion of it to remake it later."
Ryan's hands shifted on the steering wheel and he shook his head, his face twisting in discomfort.
"What's wrong?"
"Just something I'm trying to figure out."
"Tell me."
"I've been feeling off, like something's been building ever since you saved me."
"How does it feel?" Elena reached over and placed her hand on his thigh in an effort to comfort him.
"Whatever this is, it's crawling through my veins." Ryan slammed the steering wheel with his palm.
"We'll see what's going on with you as soon as the sacrifice is over, I promise." Elena was worried now for her son now. With him, they were breaking new territory, so they had to be careful, and monitor any changes in him.
Ryan nodded once. "It gets worse when I'm upset about something. And you dying, even for a moment, that's- it's-"
"You don't have to watch this, sweetheart. You can stay with Jenna and wait for me to come back."
"No." He shook his head. "No. I need to make sure that everything goes the way it's supposed to and you come back."
Her poor boy, going through that phase where the child was extra clingy right when she was preparing to die. Unable to do anything else, she patted his leg.
They didn't say anything else until Ryan pulled to a stop in the woods next to Elijah's car.
Then he asked, "What if you don't come back?"
"I'll be back, sweetheart, I promise."
She hated the fear in his eyes and wished she could do something to take that away.
They climbed out of the car and Elena linked her hand with Ryan's as they walked towards the place where Elena was supposed to die.
"You promise you'll come back?" Ryan asked as they broke through the trees
"I promise." Elena kissed his cheek.
Up on a small hill, Klaus stood next to Caroline, and she was leaning close, listening to whatever he was whispering. Not far away, stood Elijah with his hands behind his back, doing his best not to listen in on whatever Klaus was telling his protege.
What was up with that? Elena couldn't help but wonder
She didn't have time to wonder for long, because the two circles of fire, one around Mikael and the other around an unfamiliar werewolf, caught her attention. Mikael glowered when he saw her, but Elena simply raised an eyebrow. Mikael clearly hadn't been fully fed, since he looked at near desiccation, so she had nothing to fear from him and she turned away from the doomed ancient vampire and she made her way towards Elijah.
A twig snapped under her foot, Elijah's head snapping up at the sound, and a second later, he was in front of her.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, his brows furrowing, as he held up the ancient looking bottle.
"This isn't my first rodeo," Elena attempted to joke. She'd died so many times last time around, it was familiar now, but they didn't have to same memories.
Breaking open the seal on the bottle, she poured just a little bit of the potion into the vial. She held the vial out to Ryan and he took it.
"Let's do this."
Elena tipped the bottle back and swallowed the foul liquid. Gagging, she handed the bottle back to him.
"That was disgusting." Elena resisted the urge to spit.
"Are you ready, my dear?" Klaus approached her slowly. He eyed Elijah and Ryan carefully as though he was worried one of them would try to take her away and make him endure this curse even longer.
Standing on tiptoe, Elena kissed Elijah softly on the lips. He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and exhaled a shuddering breath. When Elena pulled back, Elijah's stared at her, his expression terrified and broken.
"I'll come back." Elena cupped his cheek. Had she ever seen him so vulnerable before? She couldn't think of any moments off the top of her head and she hated seeing it.
Catching her hand, he kissed her wrist, a tear escaping, and he whispered, "I don't want to watch you die."
"It'll be over before you know it and then I'll wake up and it'll be okay."
"I'll make it quick, brother, I swear. She won't suffer, and I've given Caroline the location for our other siblings, so as soon as the curse is broken, she will be on her way to set them free."
"Thank you, Niklaus." Elijah wrapped his arm around her and they walked up towards the makeshift altar.
"It's time," Bonnie said as she joined them.
Elena felt a small sense of relief when she realized something. Three more people were saved, because Greta left town with her family in the face of the Bennett witches agreeing to help Klaus and telling her to leave.
The werewolf screamed as his body fought to turn, but spells kept him bound. Even in the face of his pain, Elena couldn't bring herself to pity him. Not after what he'd done.
"The moonstone." Klaus pulled the white stone out of his pocket. "I spent five hundred years looking for this. I hate to part with it."
"The moon has past its apex. Do you remember what you need to do?"
"I remember."
Bonnie placed the stone carefully the top of the altar and held out her hands, igniting a fire and starting the spell
As Klaus approached the werewolf slowly, a feral expression in his eyes, Bonnie lowered the boundary fire surrounding the screaming werewolf.
Even though she'd gone through this before, her heart still started pounding. It didn't matter that she'd been through this before, it still wasn't easy facing her death. Sensing her rising stress levels, Elijah kissed the side of her head and rubbed his hand up and down her arm.
"I'm okay," Elena whispered.
Lightning quick, Klaus plunged his hand into the werewolf's chest and yanked out his heart. Elena cringed at the sounds of tearing flesh, but other than that, she held firm. This was what she agreed to do, to help set Klaus free.
A moment later, Klaus was standing over the alter, squeezing the blood over the moonstone.
"And now we wait for the next moon position," Klaus said with a savage grin in Mikael's direction. "Then, I'll kill you."
"You're a beast," Mikael rasped.
"You created him," Elena snapped at him.
"I had no part in the bastard's creation."
"You raised him!" Caroline snapped.
"You hear that, Mikael? The girl I'm about to kill and her best friend are defending me. So, why should I care about your opinion of me?" Klaus smirked.
Had anyone outside of the family ever stood up to Mikael for him?
"He might not be your blood, but he is mine," Elijah said quietly.
Hearing the subtle fear in Elijah's voice when he addressed Mikael broke Elena's heart. How had she missed just how scared they were of their father the first time around? How had she been so blind to what Mikael had done to his children?
But she had known though. Rebekah had tried to warn her, but it had been too late for her to listen with her being so controlled by the Salvatores.
No. No. She couldn't blame the Salvatores for why she'd ignored the fear she'd seen and heard when the Originals talked about their father. She'd just not wanted to see it, to hear it for what it was because it meant feeling sympathy for Klaus.
"Elijah has sided with the beast," Mikael sneered
"I've sided with my brother."
With a flick of her wrist, Elena silenced Mikael, and Klaus snickered, but a spark of vulnerability shown in his blue eyes.
That look send a jolt through her and she found herself wondering, had anyone stood up to his father for him that wasn't family? Without even meaning to, was she changing something else in his life? Her heart squeezed with the thought that maybe, just maybe she could play a small part in him learning that not everyone was out to hurt him and that he could trust.
"That's enough abusing people out of you. Whether or not Klaus is your blood, he was raised in your house, loved you like you were his father because he knew no better and all he wanted was for you to love him. When you learned the truth of his parentage, instead of placing the blame where it was due, on your doorstep and on Esther's doorstep, you blamed your son. Yes, he was your son. And now, you're paying for your decision to force your wife to bind that part of him that you're ashamed of."
Her little speech was less for Mikael and more for Klaus, but Elena knew that at this point in his life Klaus would be less likely to accept what she had to say if she spoke directly to him instead of yelling it at Mikael.
"Klaus, it's time for the next step," Bonnie said quietly.
"Lower the flame."
Bonnie did as Klaus commanded and then Klaus was on Mikael, piercing his father's heart with his own weapon.
With the death of Mikael, Elena felt the burst of magic across her skin and she found herself glancing at Ryan. Her son looked up at her, his brows furrowing, and she smiled at him, trying to soothe his fears about what was coming. She'd been through this before, and this time, she was in control of the situation.
"He demanded that my wolf be bound, and now, he's the one setting me free." Klaus attempted to smirk, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to.
Elena wanted to asked what was wrong, but the way he was pacing around, she didn't want to risk setting him off. He was going through too much right now and he was about to kill her, so she needed to keep him calm so he'd kill her quickly as he promised his brother.
Elijah wrapped his arms around Elena, pressing his cheek against her hair.
"I'll be fine. I drank the potion. It'll be okay."
"I know. Just watching you die, it's not going to be easy."
"It's time, Elena." Bonnie's voice broke through and Elena stepped back.
When she looked up at Elijah's face, she wished that he wasn't there to watch this, because his tight jaw and suspiciously wet eyes told her just how difficult this was for him.
"I gave you my word, brother."
Elijah nodded once.
"Are you ready, my dear?" Klaus asked, his voice much kinder than it had been the first time around.
"Let's get it over with."
Elena allowed Klaus to lead her to the altar. Once she was standing beside it, she pulled her hair out of the way and tilted her head to the side. True to his word, when Klaus bit down, he drained her as painlessly as possible, and the world faded quickly.
The last thing she saw was Elijah's face as he moved towards her.
It was over. Klaus's curse was broken.