Chapter 69: We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes

November 25, 2011

Ellie shot up in the bed as her heart beat out a violent pattern in her chest. Her sleep was filled with nightmares of screams and blood and broken necks. Sometimes it was Connor, other times it was Jeremy. In a particularly gruesome replay of Connor's death, it had been Elena snapping Ellie's neck instead. Her stomach was in knots as she reached out for Elijah, but she was met with empty space. His spot was still warm, but she had no idea where he'd gone.

She felt nauseous as she tried to force her nightmares away. It was still dark outside, but she had no idea what time it was. She reached out for her phone that was on the small bedside table and winced at the brightness of the screen. Once her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she saw that it was about one in the morning, but her attention was drawn to the multiple messages from Jenna trying to find out where she was. "Shit." She groaned. She quickly texted back to let Jenna know where she was and that she'd be coming home soon. Pushing the covers away, Ellie moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

As she made her way into the living room, Ellie found Elijah there with his phone pressed to his ear. He hung up as he turned to face her. "Eleanor, are you alright?" He asked as he made his way to her. He brought up his hand and carefully brushed her hair out of her face.

"Bad dreams." She confessed. "Who were you talking to?"

"I was trying to call Klaus, I don't know if his plane has landed. I was trying to find out what he'd done with Rebekah and to let him know that Connor was dead." He replied. She moved forward to step into his arms. Elijah wasn't ashamed to admit that he was incredibly worried about her. She seemed entirely worn down and he was sure that her nightmares hadn't helped anything.

She nodded tiredly before telling him, "I should go home, Jenna was texting me while I was asleep and she was worried."

"Are you sure?" He asked. When she made a confused expression, he added, "Are you sure that you need to go home?"

"I probably should, why?"

"I'm just worried you're wearing yourself thin." He confessed.

His concern was touching and she raised her hand to brush her thumb along his jawline softly. Her kiss was gentle and affectionate. "Thank you for being worried about me." She replied. "If I were honest, I'd rather stay here with you, but with everything that happened yesterday, Jenna's probably stressed out."

He wrapped his arms around her to let her rest against him for a moment. "You don't have to go home if you don't want to, you can stay." He suggested.

"That's so tempting." She admitted. "But I've got a weird feeling. I think I should go home."

"A weird feeling?" He repeated.

"It's probably just the bad dreams freaking me out, but I've just got a sick feeling in my stomach." She tilted her head up and kissed him slowly. "I should get home."

Despite his desire to keep her at the apartment so that she could rest, he nodded. "Do you want me to drive you home?" She seemed to be too exhausted to safely drive herself.

"Would you?" She asked gently.

"Of course." He led her downstairs and watched as she blinked slowly, an obvious sign that she was still incredibly tired. When they got into the car, he was somewhat surprised at the way she reached to wrap her arms around his before she rested her head on his shoulder. She was still somewhat nervous about affection, but it seemed she wasn't nearly as concerned when she was tired. They drove in silence and he listened to her slow breathing as she fell into a light sleep. He ended up driving slower than he normally would have. Part of him would say that it was because he didn't want to wake her, but the other part knew it was because he was enjoying how relaxed she was.

He didn't want to disturb that rare moment of peace. She was trying her best to do what she could, he knew that, but there was only so much she could handle before she wore herself out. When they arrived at the Gilbert house, Ellie was still sound asleep. Not having the heart to wake her, he carefully moved and collected her into his arms. She'd left her keys and phone dropped in her lap, which made it easy for him to grab. He got the front door unlocked with ease and as he brought her inside he heard a sharp gasp. Turning, he spotted Jenna standing in the living room with her hand pressed against her chest. "Jesus Christ, you scared the hell out of me." Jenna told him quietly.

"My apologies. I didn't want to wake her." Elijah replied.

Jenna walked over to them silently and glanced over Ellie. "Is she ok?"

"She just said that she was tired." Elijah explained, but Jenna seemed to understand that it wasn't just a physical exhaustion.

"Thank you for bringing her home." Jenna told him.

"Of course. I'll take her to her room." Elijah assured her. Jenna nodded and moved to the kitchen, tiredly going to get a drink. Elijah carried her to her room, moving her carefully and placing her on her bed.

"Elijah…" Ellie said softly, reaching out for him as he'd started to move away. She didn't open her eyes but her hand grabbed his.

He smiled adoringly at her as he pulled her covers up around her. "I'll see you tomorrow, Eleanor." He whispered. Once she was settled he took a moment to observe her before he left.

"Jeremy!" Elena's scream startled Ellie out of her sleep. She hit the floor with a thud as she heard Jeremy's door swing open. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep, but with how violently she'd been woken up, she was too disoriented to figure it out.

"Elena?" Jeremy called back as Ellie forced the exhaustion away.

She pushed herself to her feet and rushed down the stairs. Jenna was hot on her heels as they ran into the kitchen. They came to an abrupt stop when they saw Elena ripping a knife out of Jeremy's neck. "No!" Ellie's scream was deafening as Elena seemed to realize what she'd done.

"Oh my god!" Elena gasped as the knife tumbled out of her hands. "Oh, Jer! Jer!"

Ellie rushed forward, catching Jeremy as he fell. "No, no, no." Ellie cried. "Come on, Jer, please no." Her cries mixed with Elena's as Jenna stood in shocked horror. "Please, please, please." She started to chant, frantic and shaking as she brought her hand up to his neck.

His breathing was already too slow. "Why isn't it working?" Jenna asked shakily.

"I don't know. I don't know. Jeremy, no please." Ellie sobbed. His blood was seeping into her clothes and staining her skin as she held him.

"His ring, oh thank god, he's wearing his ring." Jenna choked as she dropped down next to her nieces and nephew. "He's going to be ok."

With the relief that came with knowing he was going to be alright, the confusion started to set in. "What did you do, Elena?" Ellie asked warily as she pulled Jeremy's body closer to her and away from Elena.

Elena was wide eyed with confusion. "I don't… he wasn't…"

"Why did you do that, Elena?" Ellie asked a little more insistently. "You stabbed him in the neck!"

"It wasn't him!" Elena tried to explain, but Ellie's protectiveness was in overdrive. For once, Elena realized that she was treading on thin ice. "I should go call Damon." She said suddenly. "He needs to know what's happening."

Ellie was shaking as she held Jeremy's now lifeless body as closely as she could. Had she not been so out of it, she might have gotten sick from the feeling of his blood soaking into her clothes. But right now, she couldn't imagine letting him go. "Ellie?" Jenna asked softly. Ellie didn't respond. Her nightmares of Jeremy dying were mixing with the image of him actually dying and it felt like she couldn't breathe. "Ellie?" Jenna repeated.

"He's dead." Ellie whispered, but she wasn't looking at Jenna.

Her worry for Ellie was probably the strongest it had ever been. Ellie looked so out of it, Jenna wasn't even sure that the other girl was in the moment. "Ellie, he'll come back. He has his ring."

"She killed him." Ellie turned to look at Jenna. "Why did she kill him?"

"I don't know." Jenna said slowly, carefully as she reached out for Ellie. "Why don't we put him on the couch, yeah?" When Ellie didn't reply, she tried again. "Come on, Ellie. Let's put him on the couch." She watched as Ellie flinched sharply before nodding. Ellie moved slowly, carefully using her magic to lift him to the couch. She gently placed him on the couch before moving to sit on the floor at his head.

Jenna didn't know what to do. It was like Ellie had entirely shut down. Part of her wanted to call Elijah or Katherine. They would probably know how to help Ellie the best, but Elena would throw a fit and in the end, Elena throwing a fit with Ellie already in the state would just hurt the young witch more than their presence might help. The vampire in mention came back into the room. "Damon didn't answer." She informed them.

Ellie instinctively shifted closer to Jeremy as the candles in the room shot to life. "Did you call Stefan?" Jenna asked.

Elena frowned. "No, I didn't." She replied.

Still, Ellie said nothing. She just reached out to hold Jeremy's hand. "You should try again." Jenna instructed. "We need to know why you did… that." She gestured towards Jeremy's lifeless body, causing Elena to wince. The vampire nodded before disappearing once more. Jenna didn't know what to do. Once it really set in with Elena what she'd done, she was sure to fall apart. But Ellie was practically nonresponsive. How was she supposed to help them both when she was also trying to not break down at the sight of her nephew's dead body?


By the time the sun rose, Jeremy still hadn't woken up. Elena had disappeared up into her room, while Jenna and Ellie sat next to Jeremy. Jenna could just barely hear the sound of Elena pacing, but at the moment, she was more worried about the fact that Ellie had yet to move. A knock on the door caught Jenna's attention and she moved to answer it. When she opened the door, Damon stood before her looking concerned. "Elena called me." He informed her.

"Damon." Elena called as she made her way down the stairs. He stepped past Jenna as he came inside. Clearly, Elena had been panicking since she'd attacked Jeremy. "I can't believe this happened." She said shakily as they walked over to the living room. "What… what am I going to say to him?"

"Thanks for not ditching the family ring after it drove Ric crazy?" He suggested. Elena made a face at him as he told her, "You should have called Stefan."

"I don't want to talk to him. He's been lying to me, and hiding things from me. He compelled Jeremy to forget God knows what." Elena snapped.

"In all fairness, I mean, I think you killing him kind of trumps that." Damon retorted. "I mean, you should have called Stefan."

"I don't trust him right now, Damon." Elena explained. Jenna frowned at the conversation happening before her. Not only was she unsure why Elena didn't trust Stefan, it was incredibly worrying that Ellie had still not responded. She was pretty dedicated to her defense of Stefan, and to see her unresponsive for so long was admittedly scary.

"Hey." Stefan said as he let himself in.

"P.S. I called Stefan." Damon replied.

"What happened? Why didn't you call me?" He asked as he walked towards Elena.

"I just… I need to go upstairs and shower. Clean all the blood off my hands."

Despite Elena's reaction, Stefan's attention immediately shifted to Ellie and he dropped down next to her. "Ellie…" He said gently. He reached out to touch her but she didn't look away from Jeremy. "How long has she been like this?" He asked as he looked over to Jenna.

"Since it happened, so a few hours at least." Jenna admitted. "With everything, I just didn't know what to do or who to call with everything and-"

"It's ok." Stefan assured her. Gently, Stefan cupped Ellie's face in his hand and carefully turned her head so that she was looking at him. "Ellie, are you with me?"

She sucked in a harsh breath as she snapped out of whatever trance she'd fallen into. "Stefan." She said breathily. "He's…" Her eyes started to water as Stefan moved from kneeling before her to sitting next to her.

Stefan pulled her close as she started to shake. "It's going to be ok, Ellie. He's got his ring on, he'll wake up soon." Jenna and Damon both watched in fascination at their interaction. They were both aware that the two had bonded during the summer, but seeing them interact this way was unexpected. "Why don't you go up and shower? Clean the blood off?"

"No." Ellie replied as she pulled away. "I can't leave him until he wakes up."

"Ok, ok, that's fine." He agreed easily. "But I need you to stay with me, ok?"

"Ok." She said quietly. Ellie sat in Stefan's hold, and the vampire made no move to get them off the floor as she held on tightly to Jeremy's hand.

They only had a few minutes of tense silence before Jeremy gasped painfully as he shot up on the couch. "Welcome back. How are you feeling?" Stefan asked.

Ellie shot forward, grasping Jeremy's face in her hands as she looked him over. He was trembling as he tried to catch his breath. "What happened?" He asked in confusion. "Ellie you're covered in blood."

"Long story, buy the e-book." Damon replied.

"Ellie, I'm going to go check on Elena. Why don't you go shower now that Jeremy's awake?" Stefan suggested.

"That's a good idea." Jenna said gently. "Come on, Ellie." The two of them pulled Ellie to her feet and Jenna led her up the stairs while Stefan walked up behind them. Jenna led her to the bedroom, but Ellie pulled away suddenly. "Ellie?" Jenna asked worriedly. "What is it?"

"How did all of this happen?" Ellie questioned.

"What are you talking about?"

"Elena is dead Jenna! She died and now she's the one thing she never wanted to be and I couldn't save her. What the hell is a witch good for if I can't save anyone? She went over the bridge mom and dad died on." Ellie was trembling. "Everyone just keeps dying. She died, again. I failed to protect her, again."

It looked like everything was finally getting to Ellie in a way that she couldn't recover from. "Ellie, what brought this on?" Jenna asked gently.

Ellie hesitated before she confessed, "I think… I think that seeing Jeremy like that, that it just got to me. I think with everything that happened with Elena… I just kind of shoved it down. I was so focused on trying to find a way out of it for Elena and then she fed and everyone was trying to help her through it. I think I managed to put a cork on it and then seeing her and Jeremy and I think it just unleashed it. She didn't deserve this, Jenna."

"No, she didn't. But you shouldn't be beating yourself up like this either. You're still human Ellie, not a god. You can't save everyone all the time." Jenna reminded her.

"But what if I can save her?" Ellie whispered.

Jenna's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What? Ellie what are you talking about?"

"Stefan and I… it's what we've been doing. It's why Jeremy was with us at the mansion. I didn't know he compelled Jeremy to forget." Ellie explained. "There's a cure, Jenna. And we're working with Klaus to get it and I know that he only wants it because he wants to use her blood but God is it wrong of me to still want it so that she can be ok?" Ellie was crying again. "She can't handle this, Jenna. She wasn't cut out to be a vampire and if I couldn't save her from turning, I have to help her be free of this."

Jenna understood suddenly why Ellie hadn't fallen apart until now. It was the same thing she'd done when Miranda and Grayson had died. She buried herself under her incessant need to fix everything. To fix Jeremy when he was struggling with his drug addiction. To fix Elena when she so closed off. To fix even Jenna when she was struggling with being an unexpected parent of three teenagers. And after Elena and Alaric died, she immediately went to try to help Elena or help Stefan. "Ellie, are you sure?" Jenna asked carefully.

"I'm sure. Klaus, Rebekah, and Elijah were all very aware of the history of that hunter that rolled into town and shot Tyler. Apparently, these hunters have a tattoo that grows with every vampire they kill and when the mark is complete it leads to a cure."

"Which is why you and Stefan wanted to keep Connor alive." Jenna said in understanding. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Klaus threatened to kill everybody if we spilled the beans, but Stefan told Damon and now I'm telling you."

Jenna moved forward, carefully wiping the tears off of Ellie's face. "Ok, look at me. You know Stefan and Damon, they'll do anything for Elena. As for Klaus, he wants Elena's blood, so he'll do whatever it takes to get her human. Not the best intentions, but at least he will help her. We will get through this, but right now I need you to breathe. Come on, Ellie, breathe with me."

Ellie sucked in a rugged breath. Jenna felt a swell of relief as she watched Ellie start to come down from her panic attack. "I just want to help her." Ellie cried.

"I know, I know you do, baby. We will. We'll save her." Jenna replied. They continued their pattern of breathing together until Jenna was sure that it was over. "Come on, why don't you go shower? It'll help you feel better."

Ellie did as she was told. As the shower started to heat up, Ellie struggled to keep her breath even. She wanted Elijah. She wanted to bury her head in his shoulder and for him to hold her and tell her that everything was ok. Once the water was hot enough, she started scrubbing her skin. The water was practically scalding as she scrubbed her skin. Her skin felt raw but she continued to scrub until she felt it was clean.

After she finally felt like the blood was off of her body, she washed her hair and rinsed it quickly. She startled when she heard Elena shout. Ellie hurriedly scrambled out of the shower, wrapping a large towel around her body. "No!" Elena shouted again.

"Elena?" Damon called as Ellie ran down the stairs, not having time to get dressed.

"What the hell happened?" Ellie asked. Damon was out on the porch and turned at the sound of her voice.

"Um… we might have lost Elena." Damon replied as he made a face.

"How the hell did you lose her?" Ellie demanded.

Jenna moved over to her, grabbing her shoulder to get her attention. "Why don't you go get dressed? There's nothing that we can do right now since we don't know where she is, so you have time."

Ellie nodded as Stefan walked back into the house. "Fine, but after I get dressed you guys better tell me what the hell just happened."


By the time Ellie was dressed and came back down stairs, Bonnie had arrived. "Where's Jeremy?" Ellie asked.

"He's at the school. I got him to agree to help out with the occult exhibit that Shane is doing." Bonnie replied. "Now can you guys fill me in on what was so important that I had to leave the exhibit to come here?"

"Elena's gone." Damon replied bluntly.

"You lost her?" Bonnie asked in shock.

"Well, lost is a very strong word. We just technically don't know where she is." Damon retorted.

"I'm more worried about what Klaus said about this hunter's curse." Stefan commented.

Ellie frowned. "Wait, Klaus was here? What are you talking about? What hunter's curse?"

Both Ellie and Bonnie turned their focus to Stefan. "When you and Elena went up to shower, Klaus showed up. Apparently he heard about her killing the hunter. He came to take her. He knew that she was going to start having hallucinations. He said that the hunter's curse was to take out whatever vampire killed them." Stefan explained.

"Take them out how, Stefan?" Ellie asked.

Stefan sighed heavily. "He said that she would have hallucinations until she killed herself."

"How does Klaus even know about this?" Bonnie questioned.

"How does Klaus know anything? The guy's like a billion years old." Damon retorted.

"He said it was a witch's curse." Stefan added.

"You know if I could do anything to help, I would, but I…" Bonnie tried.

"But nothing. You and Sabrina are going to wave your magic wands, hocus pocus, be gone, hunter, ghostess, whatever." Damon insisted.

Bonnie leaned forward to prop against the counter. "The spirits won't let me do the magic I'd need to break the curse." Bonnie told him. "But I can ask Shane for help. He knows everything about everything."

"Fine, that once again leaves you, Sabrina to figure something out if we can't get anything from the Professor." Damon told her.

"Great, you three do your thing." Stefan said as he started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get her back." Stefan told him.

Ellie groaned as she rushed after Stefan. "Stefan, wait!" She called as she followed him outside.

"Ellie, we need to get her out." Stefan insisted. "Please don't try to stop me."

In truth, Ellie thought it was a terrible plan, but she had to play along long enough to figure out what they were going to do so she knew whether or not she needed to tell Klaus. She felt guilty for partially manipulating Stefan, but she was trying to keep Elena safe. "Fine, let's see what you come up with. I just want to keep her safe." She conceded.

Stefan nodded and pulled out his phone as they walked over to his motorcycle. "Caroline, hey. It's me. Listen, he's got Elena. I need Tyler to get the other hybrids away so I can get her out. I know I'm probably asking the impossible, but…"

When he hung up, Ellie asked, "So what did she say?"

"I think it's doable. Come on, let's get to Tyler's." He passed the helmet to her and once it was secured, they took off. Stefan was practically flying through the streets on the way to Tyler's house. Given that she'd never been on a motorcycle before, Ellie felt breathless. It was a relief, and helped keep her calm despite everything with the wind whipping in her hair.

When they arrived at Tyler's, they met him and Caroline in the parlor. "Ok, so for this to make sense. You have to know who Hayley is." Tyler started. "Hayley is the one that helped me break the sire bond. She showed me what to do, how to help. When she showed up here, I thought it was just a coincidence. But it turns out she's been helping one of them. Her friend Chris. And she came to help us get the rest of them out from under Klaus."

Stefan and Ellie shared a look before Stefan asked, "So, are you telling me that Chris isn't sired anymore?"

"That's exactly what he's telling you." Caroline said with a grin.

"You won't tell Klaus, right?" Tyler asked Ellie worriedly. "If he finds out what we're doing, he'll kill all of us."

Ellie gave him a look of disbelief. "Ty, I might not hate Klaus, but I'm not exactly ok with him siring a bunch of slaves. People deserve free will." She told him. "No, I won't tell him that you guys are trying to break the sire bond."

He grinned at her in relief. "Ok, good. Klaus should be at The Grill right now. So, Care, you go and keep him busy and the rest of us can talk to Chris." Tyler instructed.

"Actually, I think I should go with Care. Klaus and I have kind of been on the outs lately, and I want more information on this hunter's curse." Ellie replied. She didn't need to tell them that depending on what Klaus told her, she might out their little plan to him.

"Ok, might actually be a good thing if things go sideways." Tyler agreed. The group separated and Ellie followed Caroline out to her car.

Caroline, with her uncanny ability to read Ellie like a book, asked, "What's wrong?" Ellie made a face at the unexpected question. "Come on, Ellie. You look like you did when you got out of the hospital last year when you guys…" Caroline trailed off, but Ellie knew that she meant when they'd gone over the bridge.

"I watched Elena rip a knife out of Jeremy's neck last night." Ellie said quietly.

"What?" Caroline yelped, clearly not expecting that.

"Whatever these hallucinations are that Elena's having, she killed my brother in front of me because of it." Ellie replied.

"Holy shit. Ellie are you ok?" Caroline asked as she reached out to take Ellie's hand.

"No. I'm not. I told Elijah last night that I had a bad feeling, and then not even a few hours later that happens. Care, if Klaus took Elena, maybe it was for a reason." Ellie suggested.

Caroline glanced over at her unusually pale friend. "Are you suggesting that we let him keep her?"

"I'm saying we should find out why he did it. He's a thousand years old, Care. Maybe, if there's anyone that knows how to help her through this, it's him." Ellie admitted. "Will you at least hear him out? If he's got a valid reason will you help me stop the others from breaking her out?"

To Ellie's relief, Caroline nodded. "I've been a pretty crappy friend to you lately. All you've ever wanted was to keep everyone safe and someone I let myself get dragged into all of Elena and Damon's insane plans. I'm sorry for not siding with you before." Caroline apologized carefully. "Our entire lives it's been you that stuck with me even when Bonnie and Elena didn't like me. I guess I let my desire for them to like me get in the way of realizing you've got a tendency to be right."

Ellie snorted. "It took you that long to remember that?"

"Forgiven for being a crappy friend?" Caroline asked gently as she held out her pinky.

"Forgiven, but you could never be a crappy friend." Ellie replied as she looped her pinky through Caroline's and squeezed. "Love you."

"I love you too." Caroline replied with a bright smile. Ever since Ellie had gone off on Elena after they'd taken down Klaus, Caroline had started to notice how run down her best friend was becoming. In truth, the only time Ellie seemed to be feeling better was after she'd spent time with Elijah. Caroline had no doubt that being on the outs with both Rebekah and Klaus had been hard on Ellie with as much as she clearly cared about them. Going back and forth with fighting with Elena must have also been draining.

"So what's the deal with this Hayley girl?" Ellie asked. "Why haven't you told me about her?"

"Well, you've had a lot going on, but as for Hayley, Klaus basically thinks that she and Tyler hooked up when he was on the run." Caroline explained.

Ellie's eyebrows shot up in shock. "Wait, did he? I swear to god if he cheated on you I'm gonna kick his ass." Ellie threatened.

A surprised laugh escaped Caroline. "No, no he didn't cheat. But right now, Tyler, Hayley, and I are tricking Klaus into thinking that she did. He was the one that made that assumption. We're just letting him run with it to buy them more time to break the sire bond on the rest of the hybrids. As far as Klaus knows, Tyler and I broke up because of Hayley."

"Well, that's one way to keep him distracted."

"He's the one that gave us the idea." Caroline replied.

When they arrived at The Grill, Ellie said, "He's in there, I can feel him."

"Let's get this show on the road then." Caroline replied. As they walked in, they headed straight for Klaus. "Place looks good considering your hybrid got blown up in it."

"Caroline." He greeted warmly. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She pulled off her jacket as she moved to the bar next to him. "I want you to give Elena back."

"Ahh. They sent you to sweet talk me. Well, good form, but I'm afraid I can't do it." Klaus replied.

"Why not?"

"She needs my help." When Caroline scoffed, he added, "Look, I'm not going to burden you with the gory details. I know you have enough on your plate already."

"That's none of your business, actually." She retorted.

"Yes, well, just know that if Tyler was still sired to me, he never would have hurt you. I wouldn't have let him." Klaus said it with such sincerity that Ellie could tell Caroline was uncomfortable. Caroline was still in the position of trying to think Klaus was the bad guy, even when he showed her parts of himself that weren't. "Can I at least offer you a drink? What about you Ellie? We haven't had a good drink in a while."

"Yeah. Thanks." Caroline agreed as she moved to sit down.

"Only if you tell me more about the hunter's curse." Ellie replied. Klaus looked like he was going to protest, but she added, "She's my sister, and we want the same thing. After everything, don't keep this from me."

He sighed heavily and nodded. "Alright then." Once he'd placed their orders with the bartender, he asked, "Do you remember the story I told you about Alexander and what he did to us?" When she nodded, he asked, "Do you remember what I did in retaliation?"

"You killed them all." Ellie replied as understanding washed over her. "You knew this would happen because you went through it."

"The only time I regretted being an Original was the one time I desperately wanted to die. She will not be able to survive it if I don't help her. She will kill herself if given half a chance once the hallucinations get bad enough." Klaus explained.

"Wait, who's Alexander?" Caroline asked curiously.

"He's one of the first Hunters. He tried to take down all of the Mikaelsons. Klaus killed the original Five." Ellie explained.

Klaus gave her a serious look. "Ellie, I promise you, this is to keep her safe." Ellie felt anxiety build low in her gut as she shared a look with Caroline. She sent a quick text to Caroline asking if they should tell them, but Caroline only replied that Stefan was already on his way to get Elena. "Ellie, love, are you alright?"

"After what happened last night with Elena, no not really." Ellie replied. It wasn't a total lie, but it wasn't the entire truth either.

"I heard what she did to poor Jeremy. Ellie, that is exactly why I've locked her away. She is a danger to herself and to others. After everyone you've lost, could you imagine what would have happened had the young Jeremy not still been wearing your family's ring?"

Caroline could see it on Ellie's face that she wanted to tell Klaus, and she couldn't blame her. Maybe Ellie was right and under Klaus' protection was the safest place for Elena to be. "Klaus…" Ellie started.

"Yes, love?"

Stefan's texts to Caroline came through at that moment and she felt her stomach drop. "Here's the thing." Caroline said as she interrupted Ellie. "I didn't just come here to try to get you to release Elena."

"You don't say."

"I came here to distract you so that Stefan could go to your house and break her out, which he did. And don't get mad, but then he lost her." Caroline confessed. He shot out of his seat, and Caroline reacted immediately. "Klaus." She called.

"Caroline, you're beautiful. But if you don't stop talking, I will kill you." Klaus warned before turning to Ellie. "Did you know about this?" He demanded. "Were you really going to go behind my back?"

"No!" Caroline replied before Ellie could. "She was against the plan. She was the only one that said that if you took Elena you probably had a reason. She was about to tell you. We didn't know Stefan was going to be able to get to Elena so soon. All she wanted to do was hear you out so that she knew if Elena being with you was the best option. And before you go on a rampage, they figured out how to stop the hallucinations."

"Ok. You have ten seconds to tell me." Klaus told her.

"We have to trigger the next hunter by having them kill a vampire. Once the next hunter wakes, the hallucinations stop." Caroline said in a rush.

Ellie frowned. "But we don't have a hunter."

"We do, actually." Caroline explained. "Jeremy told Matt that after Connor died, the same mark showed up on his hand. If he kills a vampire, then Elena's ok."

Something about the situation felt like she was between a rock and a hard place. The sanity of one sibling versus the other. "But what if Jeremy turns out like Connor?" Ellie asked worriedly.

"He won't. We'll keep him safe, Ellie." Caroline said confidently. "Ellie, with Elena on the run we don't have any other options. If Klaus is right, she will kill herself."

"Well, that is a simple enough solution. But if we can't get to Elena before she kills herself, Jeremy triggering the hunter's mark will be for nothing." Klaus replied.

"I'll go and do a locator spell. Just get everything ready for Jeremy." Ellie replied.

The two of them nodded and Ellie sent a hasty text to Elijah asking him to come pick her up. Elijah arrived shortly after Klaus and Caroline had disappeared. "Eleanor, what's wrong?" Elijah asked as he got out of the car. His hand came up to cup her face as he looked her over.

"It's a long story. I'll fill you in when we get home but right now I need to do a locator spell to find Elena." Ellie insisted. "Come on." Elijah nodded and moved quickly to get back inside the car. Once she had her seatbelt on, he pulled out of the parking spot and headed back for the apartment. It wouldn't be until later, when she wasn't on the verge of panicking, that Ellie would realize that she called the apartment home.

"Eleanor, what's going on?" He asked as they came inside the apartment.

"Apparently, when you kill one of the Five, you start getting hallucinations until you kill yourself. Did you know that Klaus had wanted to kill himself after he killed them?" She asked as she searched for a map.

He shook his head. "No, after he killed Alexander and the others, Rebekah was distraught for quite some time. We all went our separate ways. I didn't see Klaus for many years after that incident." He confessed. "Had I known what was going to happen to Elena…"

She kissed him quickly to cut him off. "I know, I'm just worried about her. If it was bad enough to make Klaus want to kill himself, I don't know how long I have to find her. They figured out to stop her from going nuts they have to activate the next hunter, which is Jeremy, so I have to find her before he kills a vampire so that he doesn't kill them for nothing."

Once she found a map, she quickly spread it out across the table. "What else happened after you went home, Eleanor? Something is wrong but I can't help you if I don't know what it is." He asked. He watched as the knife in her hand shook and she swallowed hard. "Love, please, let me help you." He said it so softly that had there been any other noise in the apartment she wouldn't have been able to hear him.

"You can't help me, Elijah." She confessed. "Not with this."

"How can you be so sure?" He pressed carefully.

"I watched her rip a knife out of Jeremy's neck after she had stabbed him, Elijah." She replied. "How are you supposed to get that image out of my head? I sat covered in his blood for hours because I was too scared to leave him. I didn't know he was wearing his ring when she did it. I thought I just watched my brother get murdered in front of me."

Elijah's heart ached for her. His mind flooded with the images of Henrik once more. Of his little brother, so young and innocent, ripped to shreds. The blood stained clothes and Klaus' cries of agony still haunted his dreams sometimes. For Ellie to go through something so terribly similar felt physically painful. "Why didn't you call me?" He questioned carefully.

"I didn't call anybody." She confessed. "It felt like I couldn't move. All I could do was hold him and I couldn't let go. I wouldn't even let Elena get near him. Jenna was worried, but it felt like she was trying to talk to me while I was underwater. And you know what? All I wanted was you." The admission somehow felt like a relief. "I just wanted you to hold me and tell me that he was going to be ok, but even if I had been able to, I couldn't have called you because Elena doesn't know about us and for whatever reason she always comes first."

"Eleanor…"

"It's true. I always put her first. Just like everyone else. Why do I have to hide us from her? Do I not deserve to be happy with you? How long am I supposed to keep it a secret from her? What if I don't want to?" She asked frustratedly.

"Then you don't have to. She can find out about us and if she has a problem with it, there's not much she can do about it. She does not get to control your happiness, Eleanor." Elijah insisted. Her complicated relationship with her sister reminded him so much of his relationship with Klaus. They were always the ones to sacrifice their happiness for the sake of their siblings. Always the ones to be reserved so that their siblings didn't react badly. He didn't want that life for her.

"I just don't know if I can handle another fight with her right now, Elijah." Ellie told him. "Not with Rebekah missing and all of us trying to find this cure so that Elena doesn't have to be a vampire. And if Jeremy activates his hunter's mark to make Elena's hallucinations stop, then we might have to deal with him being Connor 2.0. I don't have it in me to fight her."

"Then you won't. If she has a problem, she can take it up with me. Trust me, a baby vampire is of no concern to me. She will get over it. If she cares about you a fraction of how much you care for her, she will get over her ego and be happy for you." Elijah assured her. She looked so tired, like she had been lately and he pulled her into him.

He felt her relax in his arms and she sniffed lightly as she nuzzled into his neck. "Thank you. God, this is all I wanted all day." She sighed.

"I'm happy to be of service." He replied lightly.

After she let herself indulge in his comfort for a few moments, she pulled away. "The sooner I can find Elena, the sooner we can get this over with." She told him. Without hesitation, she slid the blade across her palm and let the blood spill across the map. "Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem." She chanted. "Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem. Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem." They watched as the blood traveled across the map, but it didn't stop. Instead it kept moving around.

"What is that? What's happening?" Elijah asked curiously.

"It's Elena. I know I have a lock on her, but she's on the move and fast. But right now I can't get a lock on her or where she's headed." Ellie admitted. "Elijah, will you get me some candles? I'm running on fumes and I'm going to need some help keeping this spell going until she slows down."

He nodded and went to gather the candles for her. When he returned, she was still chanting the spell under her breath and for the moment she looked alright, but he knew she was weaker than normal. He doubted she had slept after what had happened to her brother. It was a miracle she was still functioning as much as she was. "Here you are." He told her as he placed candles around the table. He placed more around the room as he gathered as many as he could find.

Once she had started doing more magic at the apartment, he had made sure to get more candles since that seemed to be her go to source of additional power. "Thank you." She said softly. After he had placed down the last candle, she lit them without so much as a wave of her hand.

"Can you keep the spell going without actively performing it?" He questioned. He knew she could when it came to things like boundary spells, but he wasn't sure she had much practice when it came to things like locator spells.

"I'm not sure." She confessed. "Maybe."

"Try. If you can keep the spell going passively, then you can take a moment to rest finally. I know you must be exhausted." Elijah suggested. She rolled her shoulders lightly as she stopped chanting and backed away. To his relief, the trail of blood continued darting across the map. "Your hand." He said as he reached out to take a hold of her still bleeding palm.

"Oh. I forgot to heal it." Ellie commented tiredly. She muttered a quick spell under her breath and he watched with fascination as the skin stitched itself back together.

"Come rest for a bit." He tried.

"No, I need to keep an eye on this so I know when she stops or at least slows down." Ellie insisted.

Elijah knew Ellie well enough that she wasn't going to be stubborn about it, so instead of fighting her, he moved to stand behind her. "At least relax a bit, please?" He asked. "I'm right here. I'll keep an eye on the map."

That seemed to be enough to settle her. He wrapped his arms around her waist as her head dropped back on his shoulder. "I feel like I could sleep for a week." She told him.

"We will find her soon enough and when we do, you rest."

"Mmm, yes sir." She retorted.

Elijah couldn't help the amused laugh that escaped him. "Cheeky witch." He replied as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He wasn't sure how long they stood there like that as he watched the map, but he had almost thought that she had fallen asleep standing there in his arms. She groaned as her phone started to ring loudly on the table. "It's Damon Salvatore."

"Maybe he's managed to find her." Ellie said hopefully. He pressed a kiss into the crook of her neck and she let out a soft sigh before she moved to answer her phone. "Damon, hey."

"You got anything for me, Sabrina?" He asked. "Stefan said that they've got everything ready on their end."

"I've got a lock on her, but she's been running nonstop since I cast the spell. It's no good if she doesn't slow down long enough for you to get there. Otherwise you're just on a wild goose chase." Ellie explained.

"Well, what's the general area she's been in?"

"The woods mostly, but she doesn't seem to have any kind of direction in mind." Ellie told him, but as fate would have it, that's the moment Ellie's blood slowed down. "Wait, wait, wait, I think she finally slowed down."

"Perfect timing. Where the hell is she?"

"Why are you the one even looking for her?"

"Because Stefan told me to. Is that really important right now?"

He had a point. "She's near the tombs at the moment heading east." Ellie informed him.

"East, like towards…"

Damon trailed off, but Ellie spotted it on the map just as he said it. "Oh god." She said softly. "Damon…"

"I'll get to her in time. I'm telling Stefan to go through with it now. We should have known she'd go to the bridge."

Ellie nodded even though Damon couldn't see her. "Save her Damon." She pleaded.

"I will."

The call disconnected with a click. "I'll keep the spell going until I know he's gotten to her unless she changes course. God, why didn't I realize that she would go to the bridge? Our parents died on that bridge. She died on that bridge. I should have known."

Elijah rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "It's alright. Damon will get to her and it will all be fine."

"It's almost sunrise, Elijah. If he doesn't get to her in time…"

"He will." They watched as Ellie's blood stopped, right on the bridge and Ellie felt her anxiety building once again. Elijah watched as the flames of the candles started to rise and flicker. It was a while longer before Ellie got a text from Stefan letting her know that Elena was safe. In an instant, the candles went out as Ellie dropped her spell. What Elijah hadn't expected was for Ellie's legs to give out underneath her. "Eleanor!"

He scooped her up with ease. "I'm so tired, Elijah."

"I know, love." He replied. He knew that it was possible for witches to get burnt out if they wore themselves too thin, and that seemed to be exactly what Ellie had done. He was also sure that it had been over twenty-four hours since she'd last slept. It was a perfect mix for her to overwork herself. "It's ok, you can rest now." Once he brought her into her room, he placed her on her bed before going to her closet and pulling out some of her night clothes. "Why don't you get changed? Sleep here for tonight so you'll actually get some rest."

"Ok." Ellie agreed. As he started to exit, she called out, "Will you stay here with me tonight? Like before? I don't want to…" She hesitated before confessing, "I'm afraid I'll have nightmares of Jeremy."

It stirred an almost foreign feeling in his chest for her to want him to be there to help chase her nightmares away. "Of course, I'll go and get changed."

The tension drained away from her slightly at his confirmation. Once he was gone, she changed as quickly as she could, though it wasn't as fast as normal with how tired she was. She placed her clothes from the day in her hamper and had crawled under the covers while she waited for him. A knock on her door signaled his return. "You can come in."

He appeared in a tight white shirt, clearly one of the ones he normally wore under his button up shirts, and sweatpants. It was strange to him actually in casual clothes. Somehow he looked even more attractive than normal, but her exhaustion kept her from reacting. "Would you like for me to turn the light off?" He asked. "Or would you like for it to stay on?"

She smiled softly at him. "I think I'll be ok with it off, but thank you for asking." She replied. The thought of keeping the light on reminded her of the first time she and Caroline had watched a horror movie marathon. They'd been so scared that they hadn't been able to fall asleep until the sun had come up. It was a nice memory to remember. He moved and got in on the other side of the bed. To her relief, her sleep deprivation kept her from feeling any kind of awkwardness. Instead, she instinctively curled up to his side. "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked.

"For this. For being you. I just… thank you." She didn't know how to put her gratitude into words. But when she felt like falling apart, Elijah was right there, helping her hold on until she was ok again.

"It's my pleasure." He replied. "Now sleep, you need it." With that, she nodded against his chest and pulled the blanket up higher around her. "Goodnight, Eleanor."

"Night Elijah." If she were lucky, Elijah would be enough to keep the nightmares at bay.


Author's Note:

So we got more of Ellie using her magic and a bit of Elijah comforting her! As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts!

To xenocanaan: True, but at least Ellie tried. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

To Gwenaria1: Thank you so much! I always live for everyone's reviews. Exactly. Anyone that just dismissed Katherine as a 2D character wasn't really paying any attention to her. A lot of thought actually does go into lol. So thank you so much for noticing it! Never apologize for a ramble, I love them. Thank you so much!

To Qewbix: He definitely does and she really needs it. Yeah, as much as he's a dick, he doesn't totally hate her and if anything him being worried should show had badly she looked. I like Stefan and Ellie's friendship too.

To Macheala190040: She's also one of my favorite characters! And I know exactly what you mean. I don't think I've ever come across a fic that addressed the fact that she wasn't a bad person when she was human, she just didn't want to die and no one talks about the trauma she suffered as a result. Thank you so so much for reviewing it means the world to me!

To Daddy's LiL HeartBreaker: Bonnie and Ellie makes me so soft. Also, you're absolutely right, but then again, who wouldn't think Nate is hot lol. No, other than thinking he's a bit annoying, she doesn't want anything bad to happen to him. Her view of him right now is really somewhere between her annoying little brother and being her best friend's annoying little brother. Yeah, Ty was angry, but he knows Ellie's trying to do the best thing. It will definitely be an interesting conversation when Jer finally finds out. Klaus is fine, just being a jerk, but Bekah is currently stashed away and daggered, because... well Klaus is a jerk. Also we got more of Ellie and Elijah snuggling and I love it.

To brigitm28: Yes! We got more Stefan and Ellie being sweet this chapter as well. Maybe if we're lucky, Stefan will show up in NOLA. Elena thinks she knows everything, so it doesn't surprise me that she tried to dictate what Ellie could do. Katherine as a whole is so interesting. I mean how exactly did a seventeen year old girl, with no resources or alliances, manage to even get started with building bonds with people to keep her hidden from Klaus? Just the thought of that is fascinating.

To AdiraBraelynn: If you liked the last chapter, I hope you enjoyed their moments this chapter! It's definitely starting to be a strain on them, more so Ellie than Elijah, but it concerns him all the same. Jer doesn't know for sure, yet, he just knows that Elijah's concern was a bit odd. Well, all witches can use telekinesis wordlessly, but being able to carefully make an opening without it collapsing is mostly a testament to how strong she is because of how precise it was. We got some Care this chapter, so that's good. Just google Nate from Gossip Girl so you can see who they were talking about. It's Chace Crawford that's the actor. He's insanely beautiful. Ellie is currently wearing her hair straight still, but the hair that Kat gave her will be incorporated as we go on.

To skyellebaby: Welcome back! Yes, they're finally together! Elena's definitely a pick me girl. Klaus has a whole lot of trauma that makes him act like that, but maybe as Ellie helps bind them together in more of a family dynamic, he'll stop being so dumb. The Sunshine Duo is honestly a perfect name for them. But with all the drama that goes down in NOLA will it really even be a break lol. Her and Marcel are going to be interesting to write, that's for sure.

-Madame Magic

Posted: 5/15/21