Chapter 75: A View To A Kill

February 2, 2011

Ellie was with Jenna and Katherine as she read through her grimoires. "What exactly are you looking for?" Katherine asked curiously as she plucked a grimoire out of Ellie's stack. "You are doing a whole lot of research… in not the English language…" She picked up one of Ellie's pages of notes. "Really what is this?"

She wasn't surprised that Katherine was asking. She was curious by nature and liked knowing everything she could. It was what had kept her alive for five hundred years. She made a face as she explained, "I can't tell you."

"What the hell do you mean you can't tell me? We don't have secrets between us." Katherine looked incredibly offended.

"I made a promise." Ellie replied. She'd caught both Jenna and Katherine's attention. "Guys, come on, I can't do it."

"Is it a promise to Elijah?" Jenna asked.

"No, it's not a promise to Elijah." She explained.

Katherine frowned. "Is it a promise to Klaus?"

"No, it's not a promise to Klaus." Ellie replied. "It's not twenty one questions. I can't tell you."

Jenna made a face. "You haven't joined a gang have you?"

"Jenna!" Ellie scoffed. "No, I haven't. Why would that even be a thought that crosses your mind?"

"I just have to cover all my bases. But Katherine's right. You never keep stuff from us. So the fact that you are now is a bit concerning." Jenna told her.

She had a point and Ellie knew it. "I gave my word though…"

"And you're very honorable which is very cute of you and Elijah would be proud of you, I'm sure. But spill it. What's going on?" Katherine demanded.

Ellie sighed heavily. "Ok, listen, if he finds out that I'm telling you guys, he's literally going to kill me. So if I tell you, you have to swear to absolute secrecy. Ok?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die." Katherine quipped.

"Given your reputation Kat, you're not willing to die for something small, if for anything." Jenna joked. "But, I also cross my heart and hope to die. Now, Ellie, tell us what the hell is going on." She still wasn't sure that it was a good idea to tell them as she finished writing her notes down on the page before she forgot them.

Just as she wrote the last thing down, a thought occurred to her. Kol had betrayed her trust, as fragile and tentative as it had been. Since he betrayed her trust, and since he used a loophole in his word to go after her brother after they'd already agreed to form a cure together, what difference would it make if she told two people who would never betray her? Both Katherine and Jenna were still looking at her expectantly. "Ok. I'll tell you, but I'm serious, if it gets out that I told you, it doesn't matter how much he likes me, he'll have my head."

"Whoever it is, if he comes for your head, I'll rip his heart out." Katherine said casually.

"I'm sure you would and I love you for it. So, you guys know how Kol rolled back into town to help Rebekah?"

"Yeah, and then he killed that Professor guy because something about… Sirius? What was his name?" Jenna questioned.

Ellie laughed slightly. "Silas, because apparently if Silas wakes up, the world ends. But here's the thing. I made a deal with Kol to try and make everybody happy."

"You made a deal with Kol?" Katherine's eyes shot wide. "Ellie, I've only heard stories about him but even I know he's crazy."

"He might be crazy but he's studied magic for a thousand years, Kat. If there is anyone that can help me, it's him."

Jenna was trying to wrap her head around the fact that her niece had made yet another deal with a Mikaelson with questionable sanity. "But what could you two have possibly made a deal on?"

"He's going to help me make a cure so that we don't have to risk waking Silas to fix Elena." Ellie explained. "His mother made the spell that created vampires, and since I have her grimoires and he's her son, logically we should be able to reverse her spell to either make a spell as the cure or a physical cure like what's with Silas. It's the same way that all Klaus needed was the right ritual to perform to break the curse she'd put on his hybrid side."

"But I doubt Kol would want to risk having the cure used on him, so why would he risk it?"

"Because I told him if he helped me, I'd do whatever binding spell he wanted to guarantee him that I would never let anyone use it on him so long as I could help it. And since I would be the only one that knew how to make it other than him, as long as I'm in control of it, he would be safe. You don't understand how desperate he is to keep Silas from coming back from the dead or whatever. I've never seen a Mikaelson so terrified. He was more afraid of Silas than Klaus was of Mikael."

That caught their attention. "But how could he be so afraid of someone he's never even met?" Jenna questioned.

"I don't know. On top of running with covens that had their entire purpose centered around making sure that Silas never comes back, he apparently also had run-ins with covens who were entirely focused on bringing him back. Kol respects witches, like a lot because he used to be one when he was human. So for him to slaughter an entire coven? That says a lot. Plus, Klaus was scared of Mikael and he ended up being an absolute pain in the ass, so I think I'm a bit willing to take the time to hear Kol out instead of risking him being right and us all dying. I'd rather not die, you know?"

"It's the Petrova in you." Katherine joked. When Jenna and Ellie made a face, Katherine added, "It's a good idea if you guys can figure it out. So, is there anything that we can do to help? Believe it or not, I'd be pretty pissed if the world ended after I spent the entirety of my five hundred years running from Klaus."

Ellie ran through the options of what they could do. "Look, read through these and see if you see anything about spell reversal. Some of it is in English, so there should be at least some that you can understand." She passed them both a grimoire before passing them a pen and paper so that they could write down anything they saw that they thought could be of use.

"Out of curiosity, does Elijah know that you're working with Kol?" Jenna asked.

"No, he doesn't. But that's only because he hasn't asked. Part of the deal that Kol and I made was to keep it a secret from everyone, except for Elijah. But I couldn't tell Elijah unless he asked to try and keep it secret for as long as possible." Ellie explained. "It was the only way that I could get him to compromise with me."

Katherine and Jenna both nodded in understanding. "I guess that is a pretty fair deal." Katherine conceded. "I'm surprised you haven't tried to kill Kol for what he did to Jeremy though. Well, at least what he tried to do to Jeremy."

"Kill him, no. Kicking his ass however, is an appealing thought. I've been to his apartment, but he hasn't been there for me to strangle. It would probably be easier to get them to cooperate with us if we told them what we were doing from the start, but Kol is beyond paranoid. So, that kind of ties up a lot of our options that we would have otherwise."

"Yeah. Well, we might as well do what we can to help." Jenna agreed.

They curled up on Katherine's couch working together for a while until Ellie's phone started to vibrate. "Hello?" Ellie asked.

"Ellie, Kol just tried to kill me." Bonnie said breathlessly.

"What?" Ellie yelped.

"He came to the school and said no one could find the cure if I was too dead to help them." Bonnie told her. "I managed to take him down and then I ran, but I don't know if he's coming after me."

"Bonnie, listen to me, go home and stay there. I will deal with Kol." Ellie promised. "You're going to be fine."

"I'm going to call Elena and let her know what happened. I just thought that you should know."

"I'm glad you told me. But yeah, if anything you could go to our house and you would be safe there too." Ellie agreed. "Call Elena and let her know what happened." Bonnie's breathing sounded unsteady. "Are you sure you're ok? You still sound really shaken up. Are you ok to get off the phone?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm just going to call Elena. I'll probably stay on the phone with her until I get to your house or if I go to my house instead." Bonnie replied.

"Let me know when you get there safely." Ellie insisted.

"I will. I promise."

As Bonnie hung up the phone, Ellie cracked her neck. "Ok, you guys keep looking through those. I'm going to go to Kol's house and commit a murder." Ellie told them.

"That's my girl." Katherine praised. "You're a Petrova, when we're angry, we come for blood."

Ellie gave her a dangerous grin. "I am a Petrova, and I guess he's going to learn that the hard way." Ellie assured her. She left the house and she tried to keep herself from slamming the door behind her. The first place she headed to was Kol's apartment. She started banging on his door angrily. "Kol you son of a bitch I know you're in there!" She shouted as she felt his energy. When he didn't respond, she used her magic to fling his door open and slammed him into the wall.

"Now, now, love. What's got you in such a mood?" Kol joked.

"You tried to get my brother killed, you son of a bitch!" She hissed. "And then you go after Bonnie? What the hell is wrong with you Kol?"

"They're still looking for Silas and his stupid cure!" Kol reminded her.

"Because they don't know that we're working on a cure! Of course they're still going to look for the cure, they don't have any other options right now!" Ellie yelled.

Kol struggled against her restraints. "You better not tell them little witch." She let him go and when he approached, she swung. Her magic amped up her punch as his head snapped to the side. "What the bloody hell?!"

"Quit going after my friends and family, you absolute psychopath!" She shouted. He looked back at her angrily as his blood dripped from his nose. "If you want me to trust you Kol you can't go behind my back like that!"

He knew she would be angry, but he hadn't expected her to react quite so violently. "I think you've been spending a bit too much time with my brother, love. Quite the right hook you have there." When she gave him a dark glare, he held up his hands in defense when Ellie made a move toward. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry love."

"If you were sorry you wouldn't do something so stupid." She told him. "Kol, I want to trust you. But you have to work with me here. You don't exactly have the best reputation and you know it."

Kol gave her a grin as he wiped the blood away. "Alright, you got your hit in, messed up my apartment, and I almost killed your brother and friend, but I didn't! I didn't kill them when I could have."

"The only reason you didn't kill Bonnie is because she stopped you. And when it comes to Jeremy it's because you didn't want to deal with the hunter's curse and then Stefan stopped Damon." Ellie huffed.

He grinned at her, trying to persuade her. "Come on, give me a chance. Paranoia runs in the family, you know this. Klaus is your mate, so don't I deserve a chance?"

"I've already given you a chance and then you tried to kill them." She reminded him.

"You're not going to abandon me when we're so close to the cure now are you?" He questioned.

Ellie narrowed her eyes. "One chance Kol, one. If you go after the people I care about, I will go through you. Klaus will not be your problem. I will." As she said it, his head erupted in pain. Clearly, she meant business.

He was wide eyed and impressed. "You have been spending too much time with my family, but I kind of like it. You're much more intimidating than you used to be." He joked. The pain intensified. "Ok! Ok! Listen, listen I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Bullshit, Kol. You know you aren't sorry." She snapped. "If you could have gotten away with it, you would have."

He tried to fight against it, but she was relentless. "Fine, I'm not sorry, but I didn't really see any other options. I had to do something to try and get their attention."

"There's a difference between trying to get their attention and murder! Kol. I want your word that you won't go after them again." Ellie insisted. "My priority is always going to be keeping them safe. Give me your word, Kol. I know you don't give your word lightly Kol that's why I'm asking. It is the only way I'm going to keep working with you."

He looked her over. Her shoulders were drawn back and she had a serious look about her. She was different from the slightly shy girl that he'd met at the ball. She was kind, but still a bit reserved and cautious. But now she was just a fireball and she was one full of danger at that. "I'll give you my word, only in the event that they don't come after me and to make sure that they don't get too close to Silas."

"You swear?" Ellie asked.

"I swear on my honor that I won't go after them, unless they do one of those two things." He offered her his hand, but he was still shaking from the pain she continued to inflict on him. "Come on, love."

"What honor?" She scoffed slightly. She didn't trust him fully, but sometimes the only option she had was to make a deal with the devil to save the ones she loved.

"Fine, I swear on my life." He corrected. "Is that sufficient for you?"

"Given you much you don't want to die, fine. I really hope that you don't fuck this up." Ellie warned him as she released the grip she had on his mind. The two of them shook on it as he straightened up. "Now, before you do something else incredibly stupid, why don't we get to work?"

He poured her a drink and passed it to her before pouring himself one. "Let's get to it then, love." They once again got to work. She didn't trust him, but she didn't hate him either. She understood where he was coming from even if she didn't like his, rather stupid, actions. She just wished he hadn't done it. They'd set to work, even though the air around them was still a bit tense. They were working for a few hours before her phone went off. "Who is that?"

"Your sister." She replied. "Hey, Bekah."

"Are you going to the dance tonight?"

"Oh, shit. I haven't had the chance to get an outfit for it yet." Ellie groaned.

"Not a problem. Come to my place, I've got quite a few options to choose from." Rebekah suggested.

Ellie smiled softly. "Yeah, Bekah. I'll be there soon."

"Are you inviting Elijah?" Bekah asked.

Ellie snorted at the thought. "God, the thought of imagining him neon is a wonderful sight."

Rebekah laughed as well. "I'm sure he would indulge you though. You have him wrapped around your little finger."

"I wouldn't say that." Ellie denied.

"Just because you wouldn't say it doesn't mean that it isn't true." Rebekah reminded her.

"I'll stop by the apartment and ask him. I've been with Jenna the majority of the day so far." It wasn't a lie, just not the total truth.

"Alright. I'll see you soon!" Rebekah said before she hung up.

Once the call disconnected, Ellie began packing her things. "I'm going to go to the dance and have a good time and you are going to refrain from murder the people I care about."

"So long as they obey the rules, so shall I." He assured her. Kol gave her a charming grin as he walked her to the door. "Enjoy your dance, darling."

Ellie gave him a grin. "Remember, break your word and you'll find out just how much of a threat I can be." He looked nervous at her casual threat. "See you later Kol." When she arrived at the apartment, Elijah was reading a book as she came in. "Hello, love." She greeted him brightly.

"Hello to you too, darling. You're in a good mood." He replied as he pulled her into his lap.

She kissed him soundly. "I have a favor to ask of you." She told him as she pulled away.

"Name it."

"There's a dance tonight. I want you to go with me." Ellie requested.

"A dance?" He repeated.

"Mmhmm. Rebekah's going too and I like going to dances with you." She told him.

Her hand was trailing across his collar. "Why do I feel like there's something you're not telling me?"

"Well… it might be eighties themed." She replied. He groaned heavily but grinned at her. "Come on, it'll be fun."

He debated pretending to say no to mess with her. But she looked so adorable with her expression, the slight pout of her lip was enough to do him in. "And am I to guess that I'm supposed to be dressed up for this?"

"I mean… that would be nice." She supplied. "Come on, it's Bekah's first proper school dance, and I don't want to deal with Elena alone if she ends up going."

It might have been playing to his weaknesses, but could anyone really blame her? "Fine, fine, fine, but I make no promises of anything fancy." He agreed. She laughed excitedly and kissed him.

"Thank you!" She said happily as she beamed at him. "Bekah wanted me to come over to her house to get ready since I didn't get a chance to go shopping and pick out an outfit."

"That's nice of her." Elijah replied.

"She's really nice." Ellie confirmed. "She's a good friend." It was always reassuring to hear the way Ellie talked about Rebekah. She always spoke with such fondness of the blonde. After everything that Rebekah had been through, he was always going to be grateful that Ellie loved his sister as much as she clearly did. She didn't really want to leave him, but she had to go get ready. Elijah's hand was stroking her thigh gently. It wasn't a sexual thing, not really, it was more out of the desire to just be in contact with one another.

Elijah gave her an adoring smile. "You should probably go." He suggested.

"You're right, but that doesn't sound too appealing, right now." She joked.

His hand was in her hair as he tilted her head down to press a lingering kiss to her forehead. "I'll see you soon. Would you like me to pick you and Rebekah up from her house?"

"I'll ask her if she would like that, but I definitely would." Ellie confirmed. She kissed him once more before pulling herself off of him. He didn't really want her to leave either, but Rebekah hardly ever got to go to fun events like a dance. It was nice that Ellie wanted her to have her own fun. It wasn't long before Ellie arrived at Rebekah's house. "Bekah! I'm here!" She called.

The blonde had the door open a moment later. "Perfect timing! I've just gotten all of the outfits sorted out. I think I've got just the thing for you to wear!" Rebekah greeted as she promptly dragged Ellie upstairs. "You know, the outfits of the eighties are kind of horrendous, I must admit I'm kind of glad I wasn't awake for it."

Ellie snorted. "True, but they did have some pretty great movies. Elena and I used to watch The Breakfast Club all the time with our mom. It was one of her favorites."

Rebekah paused at the sadness in Ellie's voice. The pain of losing a mother was something she understood intimately. But she couldn't help but wonder if the sadness was just for the loss of her mother, or if she was sad that she and Elena weren't the way they once were. She didn't comment on it. No need to make Ellie sad before the dance. "Alright, why don't you look through and see what you like and then I'll show you what I was thinking for you."

Unsurprisingly, Rebekah had two entire racks filled with clothing options though she didn't particularly seem to care for much of it. "What were you thinking for yourself? Colorful or something more muted?" Ellie asked curiously.

"Well, most of this stuff is admittedly horrendous, but I do like this skirt." Rebekah replied as she pulled a skirt off the rack.

"It's cute. You should wear it." Ellie replied.

"I've even done some research out of curiosity. Was all of the music so…" When Rebekah couldn't find the right word to explain how she felt about it, she simply settled for, "Ugh."

Ellie laughed lightly. "Not all of it. Some of it was pretty good."

Rebekah turned on her radio as a song from the eighties clicked on. Obviously, the blonde had been trying to get familiar with the music from the time. "The colors, the fabric, the eighties were just tragic." Rebekah commented as she ran her hand over the clothes. Ellie was sure Rebekah had heard Stefan's approach just as Ellie had felt it. She picked up a rather hideous pink and baby blue jacket. "You know, I think shoulder pads rival seventeenth century puritan smocks for crimes against fashion."

"Looking for something to wear to the dance?" Stefan asked casually.

"Aye. Are you asking me to a date?" Rebekah questioned.

"No, but lucky you. It was almost cancelled." Stefan explained.

Ellie turned to look at him with a frown. "Why was it almost cancelled?"

"Bonnie's dad wanted to cancel it. Seems like he's gotten in on all of the information because both Mayor Lockwood and Sheriff Forbes thought it would be a good idea to have a backup, in case someone else tried to… well tried to do what Klaus tried to do." Stefan explained.

"Kill her you mean?" Rebekah supplied.

Stefan nodded. "Yeah. Apparently he's managed to pull some stuff off even without being mayor."

"Like what?" Ellie asked.

"Elena called earlier. Apparently, he managed to dump vervain into the entire town's water supply."

Both Ellie and Rebekah turned to look at him. "Where the hell did he even get the vervain?" Ellie asked.

"No clue, but it burned Elena when she was trying to do the dishes this morning."

Rebekah snorted. "Aw, the poor baby." She grinned at the thought of Elena being hurt.

"Well, I guess you and the others should get something to filter the water so you guys can use it." Ellie suggested. "It would suck to get burned every time you needed to shower."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "That's true. How annoying to put vervain in the water. Smart though, I must commend him. But why are you here? Surely you didn't come just to say that the dance was almost cancelled. Back for more dagger talk?"

Stefan laughed slightly. "Somebody has some trust issues."

"It's called healthy skepticism. I trust Ellie just fine. She's never betrayed me, unlike some people." Rebekah said as she gave him a pointed look. After a pause, Rebekah said softly, "I know you were trying to sneak out this morning. I'm not stupid."

"Sorry. I'm… I'm still trying to get used to this." Stefan explained as Ellie's eyes shot wide.

"Do you regret it?"

"No." His lack of hesitation was oddly adorable.

"Do you want it to happen again?"

"Maybe."

"Even if I don't give you the dagger?" Rebekah asked.

Ellie stepped back slightly as Stefan stepped closer to Rebekah. "You think that I would sleep with you just to get the dagger?" He asked.

"Don't give me that innocent look. You've done plenty to me in the name of getting what you want. But I really should pick out what I'm going to wear. Plus, Ellie needs to as well." Rebekah replied as she cut the tension.

"Why do you care so much about a high school dance?" Stefan asked curiously.

"I don't. I was just bored." Rebekah replied immediately. Honestly, she replied a bit too quickly.

Stefan didn't seem to buy her response either. "Right. Well, we can go. If you want."

"Now, Stefan, I thought you weren't asking me on a date." Rebekah said with a small grin.

Ellie was watching the interaction with fascination. She wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Rebekah still had feelings for Stefan even if she didn't act on them. "Well, I mean, surely Ellie has somehow managed to convince Elijah to go, because let's be honest he doesn't seem to have the ability to really say no to her. It would be pretty rude of me to sleep with you and then let you go to the dance alone wouldn't it?"

"I suppose it would be wouldn't it?" Rebekah agreed. "Alright. Off with you. No need for you to linger when Ellie and I need to get dressed. I'll text you to let you know when you need to come back."

"Bye Stefan." Ellie chimed. She watched him walk away before spinning to face Rebekah. "You slept with him! And you didn't tell me? How rude!"

Rebekah was grinning. "I hadn't had the chance to talk to you yet."

Ellie was laughing as she did a little dance of excitement. "Good for you. Now, let's get dressed." She searched through the options that Rebekah had and ended up pulling out a blue dress with admittedly horrible puffy sleeves. "Pretty color, hideous sleeves."

"That's true." Rebekah confirmed.


The two of them had ended up laughing the entire time they were trying to get dressed. Once they were ready, they both sent messages to Elijah and Stefan to let them know. When they arrived, Stefan was dressed the same as he'd been before, but it was Elijah that caught her eye. He'd removed his suit jacket and opted for suspenders and a more colorful tie. It wasn't much, but he did put an effort into dressing up. "You look lovely." Elijah told her as he kissed her cheek.

"I definitely don't, but I appreciate the lie." Ellie joked. "Come on, let's go. I'm sure Care is already there. I'm sure that she also has everything done to perfection."

"Do you want us to take two cars? In case someone wants to leave earlier than the rest." Stefan suggested.

"That's fine with me." Elijah confirmed. When Ellie also nodded, the four of them separated with Ellie going with Elijah and Rebekah going with Stefan. Ellie laced her hand through Elijah's as he drove, enjoying his comforting presence. The dance was in full swing when they arrived, and people were filling in with some absolutely awful outfits, but they were true to the eighties style. "At least the music shouldn't be too bad."

When they walked inside, they made their way to Stefan and Rebekah. The blonde had wide eyes as she took everything in. "The clothes are tragic, but this isn't so bad." Rebekah told them.

The lights were flashing as an upbeat song played. Neither Elijah nor Stefan looked particularly enthused at dancing to it. Ellie took matters into her own hands. "Rebekah come on, let's dance."

"What?" The blonde said in surprise.

"Come on!" Ellie insisted as she dragged Rebekah onto the floor. How was she not going to dance when they were playing Whitney Houston? The teens on the dance floor were all loudly singing along to the song and Rebekah quickly settled into the rhythm. The two twirled around each other, and the more excited Rebekah got, the happier Ellie felt.

Elijah stood next to Stefan, watching the girls dance. Ellie dipped his sister low, giggling at how Rebekah's hair moved as she pulled her back up. They seemed so at peace. He wasn't sure he would ever know what he had done to deserve someone as amazing as her. Stefan was also watching the two of them as a wave of guilt hit him. She was so happy with the Mikaelsons. In truth, she looked so much happier with them than she had with her sister in a while.

He remembered watching Ellie and Elena after the car crash. The two of them had been so close. But when Elena had started keeping secrets, they just kept drifting apart. Despite his defense of Elena, after everything he and Ellie had gone through during the summer, it was getting hard to excuse Elena's treatment of Ellie. And here he was, once again planning on daggering Rebekah for Elena's plan.

What was he supposed to do? Ellie would be against the plan, which was undoubtedly why Elena had made sure no one told her. On the phone Elena had insisted that he promise not to tell Ellie because she knew how Ellie would react. But he knew Klaus, if they went through with the plan, Klaus and the rest of the Mikaelsons would be more than a threat. There was every chance in the world that Klaus would say to hell with the cure and he would just kill Elena. If she pushed him, Klaus would use Ellie for his hybrids and be done with it. He didn't want to use her, which was why he was so insistent on the cure in the first place. He'd told Stefan himself.

After everything Ellie had done to protect him, was the cure worth murdering thousands of vampires? When they'd killed Finn they hadn't known that everyone in his line would die. They hadn't wanted to kill anyone else but the Mikaelsons, and had it not been for Ellie successfully breaking the link, they all would have died. But now Elena was intentionally trying to commit a genocide.

The song finally switched to something slow and he watched as the girls approached him and Elijah. "May I have this dance?" Ellie asked Elijah with a grin.

Indulgent as ever, Elijah offered her his hand. "I would be honored." He led her out on the dance floor, and Stefan watched the way she settled into him like it was where she belonged there. He and Rebekah also made their way to the dance floor and as Ellie watched them dance, she couldn't help but wonder if the sight of the two would upset Katherine. She knew that she was still in love with Stefan, and the sight of him with Elena enraged her, but would it be the same with Rebekah as well?

As they took a break from dancing, the four of them made their way over to a table. "You know, I think I saw a horror movie that started just like this." Rebekah commented as she looked at all the dancing kids. "Did you know they play movies on TV all night long now? Hundreds of them. So much better than those silly black and white picture shows we used to go to."

"I don't know." Stefan replied. "I kinda miss the old ones."

"So, is everything about the eighties so… excessive?"

"It had its charm." Stefan told her. "'Say Anything', Lloyd Dobler standing outside of a bedroom window with a boombox over his head, desperately trying to get back the girl of his dreams. 'Princess Bride' Wesley slays giant rats for love."

"Oh I love that movie." Ellie chimed in.

"'Breakfast Club' one detention turns a bunch of outcasts into allies." Stefan continued.

Rebekah quirked up eyebrow. "So it was a decade of sentimental drivel, as well."

"Well, I was gonna say love, friendship, possibility of anything happening. You would have loved it."

"And why is that?"

"Because as much as we both hate to admit it, we care about those things." Stefan explained.

When the tension between the two of them became overwhelmingly clear, Ellie gently nudged Elijah out of his seat and pulled him onto the dance floor to give the two of them a moment. To her surprise, Elijah started dancing with her to the upbeat songs. He twirled her around and when he dropped her low she laughed breathlessly. "Who are you and what have you done with Elijah?" She laughed.

"Mmm, I'm not sure." Elijah shot back.

"Ellie!" Someone called.

She whipped around to see Caroline quickly making her way over. "Care! You look fantastic!"

"So do you!" Caroline replied. "Hi Elijah!"

"Hello Caroline." He greeted.

She dragged Caroline to dance with the rest of them. It was the most fun Ellie had had in ages. For once Caroline and Rebekah didn't seem to feel the need to fight this time. As Dead Or Alive started to play, Rebekah said, "This song is not as terrible as the other ones."

"This song is the Godfather of rock anthems, okay?" Stefan insisted.

They'd paused in their dances as Rebekah asked, "What's going on with you? You're fun tonight."

"I can't listen to this music without thinking of my best friend Lexi. We spent most of the eighties together. I remember this one time she snuck us backstage and compelled half the band to do tequila shots with us before the show. She was fearless, kind of like you." Ellie smiled softly at the thought of Lexi.

"So you slept with her, too?" Rebekah questioned.

"No. It wasn't like that. I was just a better person when I was with her. I didn't think I'd ever feel that way again." Stefan told her.

"Until Elena." She said softly.

"Until Elena." He confirmed. "And now that's over."

Caroline shared a sad look with Ellie. They both knew how much the loss of Lexi and then Elena had affected him. "That look right there, that is why I don't let myself care." Rebekah told him.

"Well, you can say that but we both know it's not true." Stefan told her.

A sharp pop of a balloon had Stefan jerking to look at the sound. "Don't worry. I'll protect you if Kol tracks his way to the dance." Rebekah revealed the dagger tucked into her long socks. "Was Lexi big on your protection as well?"

"She was." Stefan confirmed. "Even saved me from myself."

Ellie shared a look with Elijah and when he nodded in understanding, Ellie snatched his hand and pulled him further into the dance floor. Elijah backed away to give them a chance to dance. "We never get to dance Stefan." She told him. "Dance with me."

Stefan looked reluctant, but she spun around him overdramatically until he gave in. The DJ was playing one of his favorite songs and she knew it. It wasn't going to take long for him to cave. She was right. By the time it hit the chorus, he was grinning at her and swooped her off of her feet in a quick move. "You're too persuasive." He complained, but he was smiling at her.

"I'm a witch. What do you expect?" She shot back with a laugh. When she saw Caroline and Rebekah both standing off to the side slightly awkwardly, she dragged Stefan toward them before they pulled the girls in.

Elijah watched as Ellie kept the three of them engaged in the dance. He knew Caroline and Rebekah weren't particularly close, but because of their shared affection for Ellie they at least tried to be civil. The four seemed to be having fun as the girls danced around Stefan. When the others seemed entirely focused on their dance, Ellie slipped away from the group, making her way back to Elijah. "Are you having a good time?" Elijah asked her gently.

She kissed him softly before smiling at him. "I am, but I didn't want to leave you alone for too long." She told him.

"Thank you." He replied. "It seems like Rebekah and Caroline are actually having fun together for once."

"Mmhmm. Stefan is a good buffer and with the whole Lexi talk, even though Rebekah doesn't really know who Lexi was to him, she's not going to want to do anything to upset him when he already had a moment of vulnerability. Care didn't really have any interaction with Lexi, but I did." Ellie said.

"You did?"

She nodded as they moved to sit back at their table. "Yeah. It was on his birthday and she'd come to visit him. We bonded over her not liking Damon. Ironically enough, he killed her later that night to get on Sheriff Forbes' good side and to get into the council. I don't know if Stefan ever really forgave him for that. Lexi was the one that pulled him back from when he slipped into his Ripper rage. She was the one to save him almost every single time."

Elijah could tell she was upset at the thought of Damon killing Lexi even though she had hardly known the girl. "I'm sure that was a traumatic thing for him to handle."

"Yeah, but he typically kind of just forces his emotions to the side. It's why he's so insanely good at helping other people, but not so great at taking care of himself." Ellie explained. She paused for a moment and then snorted. "No wonder we're such good friends. We're exactly the same."

As another slow song came on, Elijah offered his hand to her once more. "Would you like another dance, darling?"

"I would love one." Ellie confirmed. As they settled together, Ellie wondered if it was even possible of ever getting tired of being with him like this. When they danced together, it felt so incredibly intimate, but not in a sexual way. It felt like his soul just comforted hers. It wasn't even just dancing, it was anytime they were close like this. She wondered if it was the same with him. It wasn't that she doubted his affection for her. He made it quite clear that she meant a great deal to him. She just wondered if things affected him the same way it affected her.

They danced together for a while until the next slow song came on, and Ellie noticed Rebekah standing back as Caroline and Stefan danced together. She paused and it wasn't hard for Elijah to understand why. "Go." Elijah told her.

Ellie grinned at his understanding. "You're a good brother."

"You're a better friend. Now go." He insisted.

She made her way over to Rebekah and held out her hand. "What is it?" Rebekah asked.

"Dance with me." Ellie told her. "You're being nice to not say anything about Caroline dancing with Stefan when I know you don't particularly like her. So dance with me. Or leave me stranded here all by my lonesome and looking pathetic."

Rebekah hesitated for a moment before smiling at Ellie indulgently. "Well, I suppose that would be rather rude." The two moved together with Rebekah taking the position of the guy. "You know, I'm not sure if I told you this, but I am really glad you're my friend."

"Bekah…" Ellie said softly. "I'm glad that you're my friend too. You're pretty amazing."

"I've never been much for knowing how to really express my emotions. Especially with other girls. It always seemed like such a delicate matter. But I mean, by the time we met you already knew Elijah and Nik. You knew about the horrible things my family has done and you still decided to care anyway. Maybe you have to be a little insane to care about us, but well we're Mikaelsons. We're all crazy." Rebekah laughed a little.

The song changed to something familiar and Ellie looked up with excitement. "Ellie, Ellie, Ellie!" Caroline called as she and Stefan rushed over. "Stefan has a genius idea!"

"What is it?" Ellie asked.

Caroline turned to Rebekah and asked, "You've never seen The Breakfast Club, right?"

"No, but bloody hell I might have to if you lot refuse to shut up about it." Rebekah replied.

It clicked suddenly. "Oh my god, we're doing it." Ellie agreed. "Come on." The Mikaelsons both followed as they led them out into the hallway. "So, in the movie, they're all running through the hallways trying to not get caught by their principal. And so part of the charm was that they were basically sliding through the halls."

Together, Ellie ran with Caroline and Stefan, letting their shoes glide across the floor. "Like that." Stefan supplied.

"This is ridiculous." Rebekah told them.

"Well, that's the whole point of the Breakfast Club slide. It's supposed to be ridiculous." Stefan corrected. When Rebekah used her vampire speed to appear in front of Stefan, he said, "No, that's… that's cheating."

"What is fun about hurtling down a hallway like a teenage imbecile?" Rebekah asked.

"You're just going to have to do it to find out." Stefan insisted.

Just before Rebekah could try it, one of the cheerleaders came out into the hall. "Caroline, Amy's looking for you. The sound booth guy, DJ or whatever, is having issues with one of things. I don't really know it was a bunch of tech talk and I didn't understand a thing."

Caroline sighed but nodded. "Good luck with your slide, Rebekah. I have a dance I have to keep from collapsing."

Ellie turned to see Elijah also on his phone and frowning. "Is everything ok?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know. He's breaking up. I'm going to head outside to try and hear him better. Alright?"

"Yeah, go ahead." She agreed.

She turned back as Rebekah was preparing to make her attempt only for her shoes to stick to the floor, causing an unpleasant squeaking noise. "It's your shoes." Stefan insisted. "Take them off and you'll glide no problem."

It seemed like tonight was turning out to be a busy one as Ellie's phone started to ring. Her stomach dropped unexpectedly when she saw 'K' flashed across her screen. It was too much of a risk to save Kol under his own name. So the initial had been necessary. "Um, guys, I'll be right back. Jenna is calling me." She told the two vampires, hoping that her heartbeat wouldn't betray her lie. Once she made it down the hall, she practically ran to get as far away from them as possible so that they wouldn't hear. "Kol?" She asked as she answered.

"You know, love. I know I swore to you on my life, but I also gave you my word under the condition that your idiot siblings wouldn't act so bloody stupid." Kol hissed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Did you know?" He demanded. "Were you aware of your pathetically stupid siblings and their plan to murder me?"

"Wait, Kol what are you talking about?" She repeated.

"They lured me into your home. What a fool I was to even consider that Elena might actually want to form a truce in the name of Silas. I gave them a chance, Ellie. I did. Instead, they decided to shoot me instead." Kol sounded terrifying.

"No, Kol, listen to me. Jeremy wouldn't just try and kill you! Please, Kol you can't kill him!" Ellie begged.

"I wanted to keep my word to you, love, I promise. I even heard her out. But I know enough about your sister to know that she would never give up on something she wanted to so easily. Don't worry. I won't kill Jeremy. I don't fancy the hunter's curse. I can't say that Elena will live to see another day however."

The call disconnected before she could try and talk him out of it. Ellie took off in a run, trying to find Elijah or Rebekah. Trying to find anyone that could help. "Caroline! Caroline!" Her panicked scream echoed down the hall.

Caroline whipped around at the sound of Ellie's fear. "Ellie, what's going on?"

"Kol is going to kill Elena. I need your keys. I need them right now. I rode with Elijah and I don't know where he is but I have to go. I don't have time." Ellie told her.

The other girl immediately handed her keys over. "Oh my god. Do you need help?"

"I need you to find Elijah and tell him where I've gone. Find him, please hurry, maybe he can help me stop Kol." Ellie didn't wait for Caroline's response before she ran off. Her heart was in her throat as she drove. She'd only stopped long enough to send Jenna a text of what was happening in the house. She could hear her phone buzzing with text messages, but she couldn't slow down to read them.

Ellie could hear screaming as she pulled into the driveway. "Jeremy! Now!" Elena's voice caught Ellie's attention.

No. She couldn't fail to save him. Not when she was this close. As she burst through the front door, Kol's scream changed. It was something far more raw than before. "Kol!" Ellie's scream was sharp as she slid to a stop in the kitchen. The white oak stake was buried in his chest. "No!" She ran forward, ripping it out just as a flame erupted. "No!" Kol was crying out in pain as he reached out and grabbed onto her arms.

Her magic tried to stop it. She did. "Ellie…" His voice cracked as he said her name and she could feel his hands shake from where he held her.

"No… no, please. Kol, no please, I'm so sorry." Her eyes watered as he just stared at her. The eye contact broke when the magic of the white oak stake overpowered her own magic and the flames spread. He started to scream once more. As the flames took over his entire body, Jeremy pulled her away. Kol's hand slipped from hers as he writhed in pain. He stumbled forward, falling in front of the kitchen table.

Ellie was crying as Jeremy held her back, but she looked up when he tensed. Through her blurry eyes, she could see Klaus standing in the doorway. "What did you do?" He demanded. She could hear his voice shake, though she didn't know if it was more from anger or from pain.

Jeremy let her go as the flames died out. Ellie dropped next to Kol's body as Jeremy moved to stand behind Elena. "We- we didn't have a choice." Elena tried. "He was trying to cut off Jeremy's arm."

"Lies." Klaus hissed. "He never would have gotten inside if you hadn't have set a trap for him. And Ellie would have never helped you."

"You said you were gonna put him down, too." Elena reminded him.

Ellie's hand took a hold of Kol's, her thumb running over his daylight ring. "I was gonna make him suffer on my terms!" Klaus screamed. "I'm gonna burn this house to the ground and then when you try to flee for your lives I'll kill you both without blinking."

"You kill us, you'll never get to the cure." Jeremy said confidently. "You'll never be able to make any more of your hybrids."

"You really think I care for an instant about my bloody hybrids? You think I don't already know that I could simply use Ellie for it?" Klaus shot back. "I want the cure so I can destroy it. I would've killed you all the second we dug it up but now I'm just gonna watch you burn instead."

Klaus dropped to his knees, crying out in pain. "Klaus!" Ellie shouted as she shot to her feet.

"Invite him in." Bonnie insisted as she came inside. "Do it."

"Come in." Jeremy said.

Klaus launched forward immediately, but Bonnie's magic made him stumble. "Living room. Go!" Bonnie demanded.

They ran through but Klaus got caught by some sort of boundary spell. "Witch, you can't do this to me." Klaus hissed.

"You have no idea what I can do now." Bonnie shot back.

"I will hunt all of you to your end!" He roared. "Do you hear me? Do you?"

Bonnie followed Elena and Jeremy out. Ellie spared one last look at both Kol and Klaus before she took off after the three of them. Jenna had just arrived, and she immediately caught Ellie's red rimmed eyes. "Elena!" Ellie screamed.

They turned around to face her. "Ellie, we had to." Elena immediately replied.

"No, you didn't!" Ellie yelled as she slammed her hands into Elena, sending the vampire tumbling back. "Jeremy would have never gone after Kol! Don't lie to me and tell me this wasn't your idea! Jeremy was safe in the house! He wouldn't have risked Jenna's safety like that!"

"Kol wanted to chop off Jeremy's arms!" Elena shouted back.

"Because you wouldn't stop going after the cure that Silas had for five fucking seconds!"

"What other choice did we have, Ellie?" Elena asked.

"You could have gotten the fuck over it, Elena!" Ellie snapped. "You could have sucked it up and learned how to deal with being a vampire and left Damon the fuck alone or you could have just staked yourself. If life as a vampire was so bad you could have just ended it!"

"Ellie!" Bonnie gasped.

She spun to face the other witch. "Were you in on this? Bonnie, do you not realize what she just did?" Turning back to Elena, she continued, "Elena you just had Jeremy complete a fucking genocide! You just murdered thousands if not tens of thousands of people for your own selfish gain. How the hell are you the same Elena that was willing to sacrifice herself just to keep a couple of her friends from dying? What? You don't know these people so their deaths don't matter?"

"Kol was a psychopath!"

"He was a psychopath that was helping me make a cure!" Ellie's voice felt raw from her scream.

It had been so loud that Elena actually stumbled back slightly. "What the hell are you talking about?" She asked.

"He didn't want anyone to risk raising Silas, so he agreed to help me make a cure for you. So that everyone could be fucking happy and the world wouldn't end." Ellie hissed. "We had made so much progress because he's a fucking genius when it comes to witchcraft. He was going to help you! All he wanted was to keep the world from ending. But you were so fucking selfish that you just couldn't wait one more day to complete Jeremy's hunter's mark."

All three of them looked floored by her revelation. "Creating a cure isn't possible." Bonnie said weakly.

"And neither was a vampire until Esther created them. We had her grimoires. He was her son for god's sake. If there was anyone who could have helped me do it, it was him!" Ellie was shaking as she said, "It doesn't matter how long Bonnie's spell will hold Klaus. It will give eventually and then you are going to have three murderous Mikaelsons on your hand. And so help me god Elena, I will not let you hurt them too."

"You're going to side with a bunch of psychos over your own flesh and blood?" Elena asked in shock.

The white oak stake flew out of Jeremy's hand and into Ellie's. "They aren't the ones that committed two genocides just because they felt like it. And they have been so forgiving of the shit you've pulled because I defended you. Because I protected you. There is only so much fucking stupidity that I can prevent. Sometimes Elena, when you make your bed the way you have, the only option you have is to lie in it."

"Ellie, come on…" Jeremy tried.

"Don't think I'm not pissed at you too, Jeremy." She warned. "I know this wasn't your idea because you're not the type to suggest something like this, but the fact that you actually did it is on you as well. I won't let them kill you because I don't doubt that the hunter in you wanted to do it, but you should have called me. Maybe then we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You're not going to help us with the cure?" Bonnie asked.

"Fuck the cure." Ellie snapped. "I hope you don't find it. And if you do, and you wake Silas in the process… we are going to have a much bigger problem than we do now."

"Silas isn't real, Ellie." Elena tried to reason with her.

"And you didn't know vampires and witches were real until Stefan and Bonnie were right in front of you! How stupid do you have to be to not realize that?"

Jenna's soft touch on Ellie's arm pulled her back slightly. "Elena, you need to leave. The longer you're here the angrier Klaus is going to become." Jenna insisted.

"Jenna, you don't know what happened…"

"I know enough. Elena, just… go. All of you. Get out of here before you make it worse." Jenna didn't acknowledge them as she focused on Ellie. "Ellie come on, we need to…"

"Jenna, Klaus is in there. He's dangerous."

"Because of your actions, Elena." Jenna shot back, finally having more than enough. "Ellie and I aren't the ones that just murdered his little brother. You are. Now, leave." The ice in her tone shocked the others, but Ellie just felt rage. When Klaus was free, would she even try to stop him from hurting Elena? Or would she stand aside and let him get his revenge? She no longer knew the answer to that question. But the white oak stake that she held in her shaking hand was her one guarantee that she would not let another Mikaelson die.


Author's Note:

I'm so sorry. I really am. I didn't want him to die. But Elena didn't leave me many choices. I really, really didn't want to kill him, but at least we all know that Kol will be coming back. As always, I hope you enjoyed, at least for the majority of it. Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts.

To IrisTurner: If Jeremy does die, I can't see her remaining calm either. I feel like it would be the thing that finally caused her to snap and truly blame Elena for everything that had happened.

To Guest: She was giving him another chance, before everything went to hell. Elijah will definitely find out about what they'd been doing and he's going to find out about Katherine at some point. It's just a matter of when. Yeah, severing sire bonds is just not a known thing, otherwise she definitely would have tried. I totally agree. Having Elena turn it off was bad, but literally everyone else that flipped their switch owned up to what they did when it was off. She focused all her rage on Katherine and I don't think Ellie will let her get away with that.

To Blu3b3rryT3a: They really are good magic buddies. Kol definitely got abused a little for what he did, but Ellie still needs him so she couldn't really hurt him. Yeah, I can't wait for Shane to just be gone.

To MarieBarnes: I'm so sorry! It was a necessary evil. In the grand scheme of things, if it wasn't for his death, literally the rest of TVD would have never happened, but at least we all know that he'll come back.

To sumaiyahc06: Lol, it's ok that you forgot. I hope you enjoy the reread!

To skyellebaby: They are talking again! Their banter is always fun to write. Honestly it felt like he was kind of in a big brother zone when he was scolding her about her painting skills. She wasn't going to hurt Kol too badly because she needs him, but enough to send him a warning. She's definitely not helpless, even without her magic. She does have a thing for nature magic. I think her being a doppelganger does strengthen her magic, because with that alone she was already magical. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though Kol got hurt.

To brigitm28: Yeah, I felt like they never explained why those certain things turned against them, so I felt like it was a good reason as to why. I know, writing their scenes together has made me realize that I really was right that they would just fit together. It really was little brother behavior wasn't it. Yeah, rewatching TO made me realize that all Kol really ever wanted was for them to love him the way the loved each other. Yeah, I mean, how could it not lead to spicy times when they're so into each other lol. But yeah, I really don't know why everyone doesn't keep a pencil with them. I mean, it's the only real weapon they could use against a vampire and it not seem suspicious to keep on them. Them painting was a lot of fun.

To Guest(2): I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter! I know. I want them to say that they love each other as well, it's juts a matter of when do they do it? I don't know yet if Elena will turn off her emotions or not, but I will say that if she does, there's no way in hell Ellie would let her burn the house down. You're right. Like how easy would it have been to be like... boating accident, car crash. There's so many options. NOLA is going to be so much fun, but yes, Ellie will graduate high school first. I don't know if she'll go to college right away with how much will be happening, but I do want her to go to college at some point. What kind of major and career could you see her having?

-Madame Magic

Posted: 6/26/21