AUTHOR'S NOTE: So in case it wasn't obvious, things are gradually starting to deviate from here on out of what happens with the storyline. Some events will still be the same, others not so much. As for why things happen the way they do, well you'll just have to wait and see hehe. I know everyone wants Elijah back already, as do I, but first ahem some serious Kennett happening this chapter. Okay... Basically all of it. These two kinda just... Ran away with it lol. I actually had to split this into two chapters because it felt like a split was natural to it.

DISCLAIMER: No I don't own Elijah, Elena, or anything to do with that which is The Vampire Diaries series. This is just my version of it. ;-)

Bound By Blood

~Previously in Bound By Blood~

Nodding, Kol held her left hand in his and brought his lips to the back of it in gratitude, smirking when he felt her pulse jump. "Truly. Thank you, Bonnie."

Clearing her throat, she blushed slightly as she pulled away fidgeting. "Your welcome." Wrapping her sweater around her more tightly as the wind picked up, she pursed her lips. "So... What is it you need me to do?"

Chapter 17 - Black, White, and In-Between

Breathing easier, Kol scratched his head before looking sheepish. "That's the slightly tricky part. Normally, on anyone else it'd be as easy as a locator spell. With Elijah however..." He trailed off feeling annoyed at his family's thoroughness for the first time in a while.

"It won't be so easy because he has others cloaking him," Bonnie finished, leaning back against the swing.

Eyebrows raising, Kol blinked in amazement. "How did you...?"

Bonnie shrugged and scrunched her nose at the memory. "Been there, done that with your other annoying brother. Klaus had Caroline and Tyler held hostage. Jenna got taken when they were rescued by Damon. Oh, and let's not forget he was trying to kill my best friend for her blood sacrifice. Your family likes keeping me busy," she grumbled sarcastically as she looked away. Realizing who she'd just said all that to, she bit her lip. "I mean..." sighing she trailed off and looked at her hands unable to look at him.

Swallowing hard, Kol felt his stomach twist in knots. "It's alright to be angry, Bonnie. You have every right to be." When her eyes met his through her bangs, he grimaced apologetically. "I am sorry about Elena's Aunt Jenna, Bonnie. And about John, her father. Elena didn't deserve what happened to her, nor did you deserve what my family has put you through with your mother. I can't change it, but I am sorry." When she offered a small smile in return, he started doubting if he should be doing this. "In lieu of all that... I can't do this," he groaned as he stood up, running his hands through his hair in frustration. Looking at Bonnie's confused face, he shook his head in regret. "Forgive me, Bonnie, I shouldn't have bothered you. We've taken enough from you already." Nodding at her, he quickly made his way to the steps down into the yard. You bloody idiot!

Blinking rapidly, Bonnie snapped out of her stupor at what had just transpired, and noticed Kol was almost to the street. "Kol, wait!" Dashing off her porch, she momentarily considered using magic to stop him, but decided against it. Grabbing his shoulder, she squeaked and stumbled backwards when he whirled around. She would've fallen over if it wasn't for his arm quickly grabbing her waist to catch her. "Thanks... I think," she whispered quietly, his eyes burning straight through hers, as her heart pounded in her chest from adrenaline.

"Sorry," he breathed out, clearing his throat and slipping his hand away once she found her balance again. "You startled me," he muttered, looking down.

"Yeah, I see that," she stated, crossing her arms as she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Someone was too busy yelling in his own head to notice."

Feeling a blush staining his cheeks, Kol forced it away and matched her stance feeling defensive. "For someone who is so quiet, you sure don't mind listening to others private thoughts, Miss Bennett."

Refusing to take the bait, she shrugged and held her hands up at her sides. "Again.. You were yelling. Telepathically or not, it's rather hard to miss," she pointed out calmly, watching his jaw twitch almost imperceptibly as the rest of him was totally still. "Kol... I want to help you," she continued, gently grabbing his hand, feeling him tense up. "You're not doing this to be selfish. You want your family safe, but you also want to help Elena. Regardless of what your family has done, you don't owe anyone anything, but you're doing it anyways. That's not being selfish, Kol. That's being selfless."

Teeth grinding, he frowned at her. "I do owe someone, Bonnie... A debt I can never repay as it is far too late."

Narrowing her eyes, she saw the guilt he was trying so hard to cover up. "Did they say you owed them, or are you making it so?" Taking a deep breath, she looked down at their clasped hands. "I know that look in your eyes, Kol. I see it every day when I see my own reflection." When he went to deny it, she held up her other hand to stop him. "I lost my Grams... Almost two years ago now."

"Bonnie..." Kol whispered, tightening his hold on her hand. He'd heard bits and pieces from his siblings about previous happenings of Mystic Falls, but this was new. Terribly so as he realized his family probably didn't even know just how small yet another innocent's family had become after what their own mother had done.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and pressed on, unaware of what was running through his head. "We thought Katherine was imprisoned in the tomb under Fell's Church. Damon wanted her out thinking the woman he loved was trapped. Jeremy's then vampire friend slash girlfriend Anna forced our hand when she wanted to free her mother... Using Jeremy's life as the bargaining chip. My Grams.." Pausing Bonnie smiled bitterly, even as her eyes burned. "My Grams helped me do the spell to unlock the tomb. We were successful, you know? We got the tomb open and Anna got her mother back, but... The barrier wasn't fully down causing Stefan and Damon to get trapped. They could get in, but they weren't able to get back out. At the time... I would've let Damon rot in there even with him being devastated over Katherine's betrayal, but Stefan... Elena loved him and he'd only done it to try to help his brother and protect Jeremy. I couldn't let him suffer for trying to help. Vampire or not he did't deserve that prison."

At that Kol felt slightly humbled by the young woman in front of him. To show that kind of compassion for someone who he'd heard plenty of horror stories about from Nik even if she hadn't known any of it at the time. Until it happened afterwards as well from what Elijah told him. The fact that either Salvatore was still living 'breathing' undead was a sign of true mercy and grace. His respect for Bonnie seemed to grow every time he saw her. You're stronger than you know, dear one. Her voice sounding strained pulled him out of his thoughts.

"So... I... Did the spell to let them out. I wasn't strong enough to do it on my own. Grams knew that, she knew it would kill me from the strain of the enchantment when I'd barely begun to practice my magic at that point. She helped me, she shared the burden, and it worked. They were free and we thought everything was fine. I thought everything was fine. She was weak afterwards, but claimed she just needed to rest while I fixed her some tea." Frowning, her jaw trembled slightly at the next part. "I went to wake her and she... She was already gone," she rasped out, shaking as Kol wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay, Bonnie. It's going to be alright," he murmured into her hair. Something about this witch was causing him to be more human than he'd let himself be in centuries. Gulping at the thought, he mentally shook himself. There wasn't time for him to have such thoughts. Not now, not ever. The future was too uncertain. For everyone.

Taking a few deep breaths against his shoulder, she became aware of the scent that was Kol Mikaelson. Whiskey, leather, and strangely enough the forest. It calmed her somehow, and that in itself was surprising given what he was. Yet... What he was didn't make him who he was proving to be every time they spoke. When the tears didn't come, that surprised her even more, but inwardly she smiled and felt a brief moment of peace as she realized the guilt had faded away. The sadness was there, but the guilt was no longer weighing on her. Thank you, Grams. I miss you.

Smiling into his jacket, Bonnie took a deep breath and pulled away, stunning Kol at the happiness visible on her face. "I know. It will be for you as well." When he looked away, she took a chance and touched the side of his face causing him to jerk his gaze back to hers. "I mean it, Kol. Whatever happened in your past, whatever ghost is haunting you, it wasn't your fault."

"You don't know that," he muttered, eyes half closed as he regarded her with a guarded expression.

Eyebrows scrunching at the shift in behavior, she had to get through to him. "I know enough from personal experience to know exactly what you're doing to yourself. I blamed myself for Grams dying for the last two years. I felt like I could've stopped it, that I could've saved her if I'd done something anything different. Even seeing her from the Other Side multiple times since then, she would always tell me it wasn't my fault, but I wouldn't believe her. I couldn't let it go... Until now," she confessed, watching his eyes narrow in confusion as his face stayed stoically neutral.

"I'm afraid you lost me there, Miss Bennett," he replied in monotone, but she could hear the hint of curiosity seeping through. Even though him reverting to her last name made her briefly grit her teeth.

"Kol... You helped me today more than you will ever know," she breathed, grinning at him. "Ever since that night, I haven't spoken about it to anyone. Not Elena, or Caroline, or even my dad. It hurt too much and the guilt was eating at me every day. Yet today, for the first time in two years, I feel like I can finally breathe again. Things aren't perfect, and probably won't be for quite some time, but thanks to you I finally understand what Grams was trying to tell me all along." Squeezing his hand, she stared in his eyes needing him to understand. "You made me realize it wasn't my fault, Kol. True, any other number of outcomes could've happened. It could've been better or worse, but no one will ever know. Grams knew the risk she was taking, but she wanted to protect me. To protect all of us. I didn't see that until now."

The smile slipped off her face to be replaced by a look of serious determination. "The memories are painful and probably always will be, but the memories hold the facts. The real facts, Kol," she stressed, the hand on his face preventing him from looking away. "Not the version of events we create for ourselves that tend to cause us more unnecessary pain. That is how I know. Whatever it is that's causing the hurt I see in you no matter how much you try to cover it with wit, and sarcasm, and anger. It. Is. Not. Your. Fault," she insisted, seeing the wall faltering for a moment as the sadness was clearly visible in his eyes. Only for a moment. It was snapped back in place, causing her to stagger back and sigh. Kol...

"I'm afraid that even what you call the real facts, or memories... Are just as dark as what you think I'm simply imagining in my head," Kol rebuffed her, face turning hard. "There is no alternative to what happened. I have my guilty conscience as it is without you trying to convince me otherwise by saying there is some fantasy reality where I'm innocent of my transgressions. I'm a vampire, Bonnie, I am no innocent." Jaw twitching at the hurt he saw flash in her eyes, he wouldn't give in. He couldn't.

Feeling a chill pass through her at his words, she knew he was just trying to scare her. Even if it did sting more than she'd like to admit. Frowning, she took a page from his book, and tilted her head as she studied him. His face was hard and his eyes clouded, but she knew anyway. She could see it in his every move. He couldn't hide it from her. Whatever internal ghost he was fighting was clearly torturing him. She'd seen it with Stefan and Damon, Tyler, and even with Caroline. It was just a massive defense reaction to push people away.

"It won't work on me," she whispered, shaking her head as she crossed her arms in front of her. When he remained silent, she pursed her lips and sighed as she looked away feeling her frustration building. He didn't trust her. "I've seen monsters, Kol. I know to some people, vampires, werewolves, whatever, that I'm just some weak human that can do magic, but I know what true terror looks like. I know now that the bedtime stories about evil creatures are real. That doesn't make every supernatural being good or evil. All it means is that they exist. They make their own future. We all do."

Doing a mental survey of the area Bonnie made sure there wasn't anyone else around to see what she was about to do. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes as she let the magic flow through her to the air causing it to swirl around them faster and faster picking up leaves in its wake. Smirking when one not so subtly whacked him on the back of the head, she stepped near him again letting the circle close tighter around them despite him glowering at her. "You say you're no innocent, Kol. Then what am I? To your family, people like Elena and myself are considered innocent because we're human. We're breakable. Only I'm not a normal human. I'm a witch and therefore just as supernatural as you are. Sure there's scary stories told of vampires and werewolves. There's just as many legends about good and bad witches. Light magic, Dark magic, magic to heal, magic to kill. You say vampire like it inherently means evil, yet treat witches like we're inherently good when we both know people that have proven otherwise on both accounts. You've killed people before..." Hesitating she took a deep breath and clenched her jaw. "So have I."

Eyebrows shooting to his hairline, Kol was stunned. She had to be lying. "I find that hard to believe."

Narrowing her eyes at what he let slip, she held his stare. "Whether you believe it or not, it's the truth. When Elena's real dad returned to town, her mother, Isobel, stopped in as well with a device she left him as a gift. That device was enchanted, Kol. When activated it incapacitated every vampire and werewolf in the entirety of Mystic Falls. Everyone that had been trapped in the tomb, everyone else that was simply trying to live their lives in peace. They were all taken prisoner. The Town Council locked them up in Grayson Gilbert's old pharmacy's basement and let it burn. Because of my lying to my friends who trusted me to remove the spell, Tyler lost his father, Jeremy lost Anna, and Elena almost lost Stefan and Damon that night. Because of my refusing to destroy a simple little device, all those people died," she hissed, hands clenching at her sides as the wind whipped her hair around her face.

"That was beyond your control. You couldn't stop the Council from what they were planning to do," Kol tried to reason with her, angering her further.

"Yes, I could have Kol. I was the one with the power to prevent it from happening and I did nothing! I may not have lit the match that started the fire that killed them. I may have done everything I could to put it out to save Stefan and Damon in the end. Either way people are dead because of what I let happen when I alone could've stopped it. They weren't all evil. They weren't all monsters that deserved to die. Don't you dare try and tell me that I'm innocent because I'm human, and that you're not because you're a vampire. Nothing in this world is that black and white. We are all shades of grey. We decide our own fate. For the love of God, decide your own!" she yelled, as the wind gave him an abrupt shove back before dissolving entirely, leaving her trembling as the leaves sank to the ground.

"Bonnie..." Kol murmured, staring at her amazed and forgetting his previous anger as he watched her pull her magic back into her. No one outside his family had ever even attempted speak to him in such a way. Not if they valued their living or undead life. The young witch was either very stupid or incredibly brave. In his heart, he knew he would never hurt her even if he couldn't admit it. She was too special.

"I can't do it for you, Kol," she sighed sadly, shrugging her shoulders as she went to walk past him refusing to look at him, partly fearing what she'd see now that he knew the truth. She knew all along that she wasn't innocent. Now he knew it too and there was no dancing around it. Stopping briefly as she brushed past his shoulder, she allowed herself a quick glance back at his rigid form. "You have to do it for yourself."

Closing her eyes, she turned away as she pulled her sweater tighter and swiped her hand in the direction of her home locking the door and activating the protection spells she'd placed around it ever since the ritual. Letting her hand fall to her side, she kept moving down the sidewalk, not letting herself look back. No turning back now, Bonnie. At least now he knows the truth.

Looking up at the sky with the sun about to rise, she sent a prayer to the spirits. Help me, Grams. Help him. Please.