Chapter 78: Stand By Me

February 11, 2011

With Klaus free, since it was no longer a secret, they had ended up back at the Mikaelson mansion. Like she'd had to deal with for the past few nights, Ellie ended up with horrific nightmares. When she woke, her heart was pounding. She'd slept so roughly that she was sweating profusely by the time she'd woken up. Her skin felt sticky and gross as it stuck to the sheets. She made her way to the bathroom, showering with cold water in an attempt to wash the horrible feeling away. Something was wrong and it was getting worse.

Elijah found her sitting on the floor of the shower with her eyes glazed and shaking from how cold she had the water. "Love?" He asked gently as he knelt down to get on her level. "Are you ok?"

"Something's wrong, Elijah." She whispered. "Something is so wrong and I can't shake it."

He was admittedly concerned. She had never had such a strong reaction like this. "What can I do?" He asked gently. If something was affecting her this badly, it was probably a warning from her intuition or just her fear of Jeremy being so far away. But he was with Rebekah, and she wouldn't let anything happen to the boy to protect Ellie. Though, he had gone missing with Shane and Bonnie. Hopefully Rebekah was able to find him before anything were to happen to him.

She just shook her head, unable to find the right words. He wasn't sure how long she'd been awake; he'd been trying to dissuade Klaus from his plans of murder and vengeance. He turned off the faucet and pulled off one of the thick towels from the rack to wrap around her. She was shaking as he helped her to her feet. Ellie moved slowly as she let him dry her off. The young witch managed to pull herself out of her dazed state as they went into the bedroom and pulled on her own clothes. "I'm ok." She told him.

He didn't believe her, but he didn't have to tell her that. "Come downstairs and get something to eat at least." He suggested. She obliged easily and allowed him to bring her downstairs where Klaus was.

"Good morning sunshine. You look beautiful as always." Klaus chimed. He was cooking when they entered and it was only when he turned to fully face them that he saw how out of it she looked. "What's wrong?"

"Bad feeling." Ellie said simply. She wasn't sure how to explain it further. Klaus, even without seeing the look of warning on Elijah's face, didn't push her any further. He simply finished the food he was making and passed it over to her. She ate it though it was clear that her mind was elsewhere. Both brothers watched as she ate. "Where's Jenna?" She asked curiously.

Klaus passed her a cup of coffee as he replied, "She had an exam that she had to take. She should be back later though."

Once she finished eating, she made her way back upstairs to work on her grimoire while she waited for any kind of update from Stefan and Rebekah. She hadn't been working long when her phone went off. "Hello?" She asked.

"Ellie? It's Caroline." Her voice was soft… way too soft.

"Hey, what's wrong? Ellie asked immediately. She knew that tone of voice. Caroline didn't reply immediately, Ellie straightened up. "Caroline, what's wrong?"

"I think you need to come home." She finally replied. "It's important."

"Wait, are you at the house? Why?" Ellie questioned.

"I was going to clean up the mess you guys didn't get to finish, but I think you really need to come home now." It sounded like there was a warning in her voice, or maybe fear.

Ellie felt that same sick feeling. "Ok… ok I'll come home. I'll be there soon." Her gut twisted with her anxiety as she quickly changed into clothes more suitable for going out.

When she made her way back downstairs, Elijah and Klaus were in the middle of a chess match. "Are you going somewhere?" Klaus asked.

"Caroline called. She said I needed to come home but she wouldn't tell me why." Ellie told them.

Elijah looked up with concern. "Do I need to come with you?"

She gave him a quick kiss before replying, "No, if something is wrong I'll let you know." Elijah nodded in understanding before letting go where his hand had rested on her hip. "I'll see you guys later." She tried to keep Elijah from reading her like a book. That always seemed to come so easily to him.

When she came to the house, Stefan's car was parked in the driveway. She got out and ran in the house as fast as her feet would carry her. "Hey! Stefan! Did you guys get the cure?" She asked curiously. Part of her was still hoping that Rebekah had managed to get her hands on it. Ellie froze at his expression. "Stefan, what's wrong? What happened?"

"Ellie…" He reached out for her, taking a gentle hold of her hand. "I need you to come upstairs with me."

"Stefan, you're scaring me." Ellie admitted. "I don't know if I want to go upstairs."

"Ellie, please. Something happened…" He told her.

She made her way upstairs slowly. Her hand shook as she held onto the railing for support. She could feel Stefan behind her. His energy buzzed around her and the heat of his hands as he held them just behind her in case she fell. He directed her to Jeremy's room. Jeremy was laying on the bed as Elena sat next to him, holding his hand. Ellie's heart stopped. "No…" She breathed. "Stefan, no please. What happened?" Her voice trembled as she shook.

He winced. "There was an accident…" He started.

"Is he… is he dead?" She didn't really want to know the answer. Her magic crept out without her meaning too. She could feel Stefan and Elena in the room and Caroline downstairs, but where she'd been able to feel Jeremy since his hunter's mark was activated, there was nothing now. It was just nothing. Stefan watched as she processed the information. "No… no, no, no."

There was something more painful about watching Ellie process Jeremy's death than watching Elena's denial. Her eyes watered immediately and then, as if something inside of her snapped, a scream tore through Ellie's throat. The sound was so raw and painful that he flinched back instinctively. She dropped to her knees as she continued to scream. It felt like a pressure was building in her gut. Just when she thought she couldn't handle anymore, it popped like a balloon and the windows shattered. "Ellie!"

Stefan's arms were around her, pulling her away from the shattering glass. From the shout that he heard from Caroline, it seemed like every window in the house had shattered. Ellie fought against him weakly. "No, no, no, please Stefan no." Her screams turned to sobs and Stefan felt his own eyes water as she curled into him. She was somewhere between screaming and sobbing and he wasn't sure how long it would be until her voice gave out.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered as he cupped the back of her head, holding her as close to him as he could. "Ellie, I'm so sorry."

"I knew something was wrong. I knew. I should have gone to the island. I should have protected him. No, no, no no…" Ellie was rambling as her grief tried to drown her.

But Stefan couldn't focus on the witch in his arms, not fully at least. The sky outside the shattered window had been clear blue skies just a moment ago, but dark clouds had rolled in unexpectedly. Thunder rumbled in the distance as lightning struck down. In an instant it was pouring rain. He shushed her gently as he rocked her, trying to get her to breathe. "Ellie, stay with me."

"Ellie, it's ok." Elena assured her. "He's gonna come back. We just have to wait for him to wake up."

The witch jolted out of Stefan's hold and lunged for her twin. "This is your fault!" Ellie screeched as she tackled Elena. Instead of using her magic, she just started swinging. "Everyone was so obsessed with the cure for you!" Her punch landed across Elena's jaw and the vampire's head snapped to the side sharply, though not enough to snap her neck. "Why couldn't you have just dealt with it like everyone else?" Another punch caught Elena's eye.

"Ellie stop it!" Elena demanded as she tried to force her sister off of her.

"You would have never even been a vampire if you hadn't been so fucking stupid! You had to go and wake Esther that fucking bitch!" When Elena tried to grab her, Ellie used her magic to pin the other girl's arms down as she shot a hand out to pull, hard, on Elena's hair. Elena let out a pained cry as Ellie landed another blow.

Stefan was frozen with shock. Ellie reacting with her magic wouldn't have surprised him much, but for her to go full force with her fists was not what he had been prepared for. Caroline had rushed upstairs at the commotion and found her best friend losing her mind. "Ellie! You're hurting her!"

"She killed him!" Elena was bleeding from the wounds Ellie had inflicted. "You killed him! You killed him!"

Stefan turned to Caroline. "Call Elijah. Get him here, right now." He demanded. They'd been trying to reach Jenna as well, but she hadn't answered. Caroline ran out of the room to get her phone. "Ellie…"

He wasn't sure if Elena had just given up on fighting back or if Ellie's magic was just that strong. At the moment, his money was on Ellie's magic. "Why couldn't you have just left him out of it?" Ellie was screaming. "He's my baby brother! You took him from me!"

Elena looked on the verge of losing consciousness. "Ellie, come on…" Stefan begged and as Ellie landed yet another blow, there was a sharp crack before Elena's body lost tension underneath Ellie. As he pulled Ellie off of Elena's now unconscious form, another scream escaped her. It reverberated in his chest as she clawed at him. He didn't know whether it was to get away from him or to get closer, so he simply held on.

"He's gone, he's gone, he's gone…" She just kept repeating it under her breath and he could hear how scratchy her voice had already gotten. Her knuckles were broken and bloody from where she'd attacked Elena, but he felt no bloodlust. Not now, not when she was so broken. "Stefan, please this can't be happening." Her screams died out as they turned into full fledged sobs.

He scooped her up, quickly taking her out of the room. Being left with Jeremy's body wasn't helping her at all. The storm outside was still raging violently and as he brought her downstairs, his suspicions were confirmed. With her magical outburst, all the windows in the house had shattered along with the mirrors. She was overwhelmed to the point that her emotions were starting to blur. Her anger and pain and grief were just rolling into one big ball of overwhelming agony. "Ellie…" Caroline was crying now as she watched Ellie break down.

She'd managed to get a hold of Elijah, and when he'd understood the urgency of the situation, he'd assured her that Klaus would get a hold of Jenna and they would be there as soon as possible. The wind was howling outside the broken windows as Stefan held onto Ellie tightly. Caroline also moved to hold her best friend as Ellie cried. Stefan didn't know how long they'd held her before he heard the slamming of car doors from outside. Jenna was running inside a second later with red rimmed eyes. She took one look at Ellie in distress before she cried out, "No!" Klaus caught her as her knees gave out.

"Elijah-" Her voice broke as she said his name. She stumbled out of the arms of Stefan and Caroline as she fell into Elijah. "He's dead… he's gone." Elijah scooped her up in his arms, carrying her toward where Klaus had gotten Jenna to the couch. The moment he sat them down, the two girls collapsed into one another, holding on for dear life.

After their cries faded into numbness, the Mikaelson brothers held onto them as they tried to offer them some sort of comfort. "What happened?" Klaus demanded.

Caroline looked over to Stefan. He was the only one among them that had been on the island. "We got separated from each other. Shane took Bonnie and Jeremy to Silas. But when we found what was supposed to be Silas' resting place, it was empty save for a dead hunter. Not Jeremy, but another one that had attacked Damon on the island. There was no Bonnie or Jeremy. I'd found Elena injured in the tunnels."

"And who attacked her?" Elijah inquired as he tried to keep his composure. Ellie needed him to remain calm. She'd been there for him when he mourned Kol, now she needed him to do the same.

"Katherine." Ellie's head shot up.

"What?" She asked.

"We think that Katherine fed Jeremy to Silas, but what we don't know is why his body wasn't just in the cavern like the other hunter if she had fed him to Silas. But Katherine is gone and so is the cure." Stefan explained.

Ellie was shaking her head. "No… no way. Absolutely not." She denied. Stefan looked at her in confusion. "She wouldn't. She wouldn't kill Jeremy." There were a lot of things that were questionable about Katherine, but she loved Jenna and Ellie. There was no way that she would hurt them like that.

"Ellie…"

"She wouldn't." Ellie demanded. While Ellie was distracted, she didn't notice the way Klaus sniffed the air. The smell of Jeremy's decaying corpse was getting stronger, and he was more than grateful that the girls didn't have enhanced senses of smell.


After Ellie's outburst, she had pulled away from Elijah and made her way out onto the back patio to watch the storm as it raged. They hadn't had the heart to disturb her as they discussed what needed to be done. While Katherine and the cure needed to be found, taking care of Jeremy's body was the priority. Caroline had called Dr. Fell for help and before long, the woman had arrived. She didn't apologize for Jenna's loss. She knew it wouldn't do any good. Instead, she asked, "How's Ellie doing?"

"Not good." Caroline replied. "She knocked Elena out and she's been sitting on the patio for nearly an hour."

"But she's come to terms with it?"

Jenna looked over at her and said, "If you're asking if Ellie knows that Jeremy is dead, then yes, she does."

"Meredith, when did you get here?" No one had heard Ellie move from the spot she'd been in.

With the knowledge that Ellie had already resorted to violence in her grief once, Dr. Fell thought it would be best to tread carefully. "Caroline called me to help take care of Jeremy."

Thankfully, Ellie didn't ask her to explain anymore than that. "He's upstairs in his room. I can take you to him." Her voice was flat. Elijah could tell that she was repressing her emotions, but that was a normal trauma response for something as awful as this.

"Elena?" Dr. Fell asked softly. Ellie hadn't been aware that Elena had recovered.

As she came back into the room where Jeremy was, Elena asked, "Meredith, what are you doing here?"

"I came to check on your brother." Dr. Fell replied. "May I?"

She hesitated for a moment before she said, "Yeah, um… you're not gonna find any vitals. It's the same thing that Ric used to go through. He'd just be dead until then he wasn't. Once, I remember he was gone for almost an entire day. Ric died, like, four times before he lost his mind and Jeremy has died a few times, too… three, I think. So we're gonna have to-" Stefan entered the room but Elena ignored him and continued, "So we'll have to keep an eye on him because I don't want him to go crazy just like Ric did."

The vicious part of Ellie's brain, the one clouded with rage instead of grief, all but hissed that Ric going crazy had been Elena's fault, just like Jeremy's death. Stefan's hand rested against the small of Ellie's back, it didn't surprise her that he knew what she was thinking. Ellie caught the look that Dr. Fell shot Stefan before she said, "Elena… it looks like Jeremy died of extreme blood loss. His neck also appears broken. The lack of blood explains why there's no lividity, but his muscles have tightened past the point of rigor mortis."

"No." Elena insisted as Ellie's hand sought out Stefan's. It was one thing to know that Jeremy was dead. It was another thing to hear Dr. Fell explaining it.

"If he's left unattended to, soon he'll start to bloat. Within a few hours, his skin will discolor, and-"

"No! Stop, ok? Just stop. He's not dead. You and Ellie… you're, you're wrong. He's not dead." Elena replied.

"I need one of you to release the body to me." Ellie's eyes watered at Jeremy being called 'the body'. "We'll get him to a funeral home and prepare him for a viewing where you and his friends can say goodbye to him." Dr. Fell told her.

"He's not dead! Ok?" Elena shouted in the other woman's face as she slammed her against the wall.

Stefan jumped into action, pulling her off Dr. Fell. "Elena, stop it!"

He wrapped his arms around Elena tightly, pulling her back. "Now you're all about science? Where was your science when you used vampire blood to save my life, huh? There is no science here. It's just magic. We need magic. Ellie, you have to… you have to help him, you're a witch, you can help him."

Elijah had come up to the room with all the commotion, followed by Klaus and Jenna. "Elena, he's dead." The words felt like acid on her tongue. "I can't help him."

"Then I don't need you. I need Bonnie. We have to find Bonnie. Bonnie can fix this, somebody just get me Bonnie!" Elena screamed.

"Elena-" Matt called.

She watched as Matt's composure started to crack and he started to cry. "No, no, no Matt it's fine. It's ok. It's ok." Elena moved to hug him tightly. "Bonnie will be here soon, and she'll fix everything, and it'll be all fine. Everything is gonna be fine. It'll be fine." Ellie's throat tightened watching him cry and she turned into Elijah to try and ground herself.


Matt, bless him, had managed to lure Elena out of the house. Ellie thought that if she had to look at her twin for much longer, or listen to her speak, that she might have to knock her out again. She'd been tempted when Elena was spouting off the insanity that she could bring Jeremy back. Protecting someone from death before they died, like a potion or magic ring was one thing. But bringing someone back that was already dead and had been dead for a while was something else entirely. That was necromancy and it leaned on the side of dark magic.

After they'd left, Ellie found herself sitting on the side of Jeremy's bed, holding onto his cold hand. It didn't feel right. It was icy and hard like she was holding a piece of marble. Not flesh and blood that she'd used to sing off key renditions of Britney Spears to. It felt like little moments of their lives flashed before her. She could remember the first time he'd ridden a bike without the training wheels. It had been such a big deal that their parents took them out for ice cream.

Every little dance routine she's gotten him to do with her. Every matching set of Halloween costumes. Every time they'd hidden snacks from their parents. She remembered it all. How could the hand that had squeezed on so tightly as a child feel so unnatural now? Was Jeremy in heaven? Or was he on the Other Side? Was there any way that Elena was right and that the ring might work now that the tattoo was gone? Had he been in pain? Had he cried out for her, hoping for her to save him as she always had? The thought caused her to recoil as if flinching away from him would protect her from the violence of her own mind. If there was anything she was good at, it was punishing herself.

Dr. Fell had entered the room, careful to avoid the shattered glass and wet floors. "Hi, Ellie. I was just coming to… would it be already if I covered him?" Dr. Fell asked gently. "It's customary for when a patient-"

"Yeah." Ellie said as she cut her off. "Yeah, that's fine." She'd asked Elijah and the others to give her some time alone with Jeremy, but with the way her thoughts were, she just wanted out of the room.

Once she moved away, Dr. Fell carefully covered Jeremy's body before heading out of the room. Stefan was putting pictures back on the shelves from where they'd fallen as Dr. Fell turned the air conditioner down. "I'm bumping the AC. We're not gonna be able to leave him in there for much longer."

"Yeah. I know." Stefan agreed. "I've been alive for almost two centuries now. You'd think with the amount of people that I've seen die, it would hurt less each time. Never does." Ellie stepped past Dr. Fell to sit on the steps below Stefan and sat between his legs. After the summer, Stefan had definitely learned that Ellie was a physically affectionate person when she was distressed.

As Dr. Fell moved to sit next to Stefan, she agreed. "No. No, it never does. I see this every day. Sometimes I think that denial is the worst part for people like us because we know the truth. We can see they're on a collision course with it, and all we can do is brace ourselves for impact."

Ellie leaned back against Stefan's chest as she listened to what Dr. Fell was saying. It felt like her brain was split into multiple parts. The emotional side was a wreck. That part of her mind felt like she was standing on a beach in a raging storm, currently under the threat of being swept out by a rushing wave. Like she was going to be dragged under the water and trapped, left to drown. But the logical side seemed to have won for now. It shut her emotions down, leaving numbness to take over. From where he stood in the foyer, Elijah could see as Stefan was casually running a hand through Ellie's hair. To his surprise, he felt no jealousy. Protectiveness, maybe, but not jealousy. She's explained her relationship with Stefan, and right now, anything that he could do to help her would be worth it.

After a few minutes of the trio sitting together, their silence was interrupted by Stefan's phone. "Did you find her?" Stefan asked as he quickly stood from his spot. "She's losing it, Damon. We can do what we can to delay things here, but we got to get Jeremy to the morgue before it gets ugly. I think you have to. At this point, the sire bond is probably the only thing that's gonna keep Elena together. Jenna and Ellie aren't in the position to take care of her and after everything they shouldn't have to. They need to be taken care of as well. I can go back to find Bonnie."

She was watching as Stefan hung up the phone before she looked back into Jeremy's room. "You're right. Jeremy's not gonna wake up, but Elena's gonna raise hell if we take him now." Ellie commented. "I can do a preservation spell on him to try and slow the process down a little while longer. Maybe slow it down enough until Damon and Bonnie get back."

In truth, she hadn't let herself worry about Bonnie. There wasn't enough emotional energy left in her to be able to really worry. "That would be a good idea." Stefan agreed. "Do you need anything from us to help?"

"No, I can do it." Ellie assured him. Despite her confirmation, Stefan followed her into the room. He lifted the sheet back to show his body. Ellie wordlessly cast the preservation spell, but her stomach twisted painfully as she tried to not look at him. "Please cover him back up." She whispered. She didn't want to look at the body anymore. She didn't want to think about the fact that Katherine might have betrayed her in such a way.

"Come on, we should go downstairs." Stefan suggested. He hadn't been lying when he told Damon that Ellie wasn't in the position of taking care of Elena. Especially with the tension between the two of them, even if she had been in the right state of mind, he wasn't sure that Ellie would have wanted to. He led her downstairs carefully. She had pulled herself together, but the storm was still raging violently outside.

Klaus had left temporarily to get tarps to put up over the windows to try and keep the rain out. It was a temporary solution until they could figure out what to do. Stefan hadn't been used to this side of Klaus. He was almost… doting on both Jenna and Ellie. It was like he was walking on eggshells to keep from upsetting him. His usual witty banter was gone and replaced with words of comfort. Was this why Ellie was so defensive of him? Because she saw this side of him that Stefan was so unfamiliar with.

He watched as Klaus wrapped his arm around her shoulder as she sat down on the couch next to him. It was the seat Elijah had occupied earlier, but the Original that favored suits had made his way to the kitchen to try and make something for Ellie and Jenna to eat. Both girls were leaning into Klaus, but he said nothing. He just held them. It made a lot of sense. Even Caroline seemed surprised by Klaus' affection for the two girls. Though, after Klaus had spent as much time as he had pursuing Caroline, for him to pay her no mind must have thrown her by surprise.

It had been a struggle to get the girls to eat. Both Ellie and Jenna had denied being hungry, but the Mikaelson brothers had refused to concede until they gave in. They ate slowly, and Ellie was almost certain that she was going to throw it up, but she managed to keep it down. After the dishes were put away, Elijah made his way over to Ellie. "My love, do you think it might be wise for you to go lie down?"

"I don't wanna lie down." Ellie said weakly. In truth, she was terrified of the nightmares that she would have if she slept. As Elijah pulled her into his arms, she missed the look he shot to Klaus. The brothers shared a moment of unspoken understanding. Klaus moved into the kitchen, preparing something that Ellie couldn't see.

"Here, love, why don't you drink this. It'll help ease your mind." Klaus offered as he passed her a cup of tea. "It's only chamomile tea." He assured her.

She took the tea and drank it slowly as Klaus offered Jenna a cup as well. Once their tea was gone, Klaus took the cups before moving to hover near Jenna. Within minutes, Caroline and Stefan watched in concern as the two girls started to sway before they lost consciousness. "Oh my god!" They rushed forward, but Klaus and Elijah had already caught the girls and were lifting them into their arms. "What did you do?" Caroline asked worriedly.

"Don't worry your pretty little head. It was only something to help them sleep without nightmares." Klaus replied. "There's only so much a person can handle before they wear themselves thin. And with Elena being… well Elena, they're going to need as much strength as they can manage since she wants to act like a fool."

"She's in grief." Caroline shot back. They'd placed Jenna and Ellie in Jenna's bed together, it would be easier for them if they woke up together.

Klaus gave Caroline an unimpressed look. "She's facing the consequences of her own actions. Might I remind you that it was my brother that warned you all of the terror that is Silas. How foolish does she have to be to think that an immortal that's been desiccating for over two thousand years wasn't going to be hungry? Whether or not Katerina intentionally meant for the young hunter to die is of no matter. Because of Elena's inability to be a vampire, the world's oldest immortal is running loose and we have no idea what's going to happen now."

"I didn't realize you cared so much about all of this." Caroline admitted.

"Ellie is the only comrade I have that has never betrayed me despite her innumerable chances to do so. And given that she just did her best to console my family and I over the loss of our own younger brother, of course I care, Caroline. I may be a lot of things, but I am not some heartless monster entirely incapable of empathy. It's just I care only for a select few. I care for those that have earned that right. Ellie has." Klaus explained.

He wasn't surprised that Caroline was shocked. Like most people, she tended to see all of the bad he had done instead of the good he was capable of. "We should leave them so that they can sleep in peace." Elijah instructed as he made sure to cover both of the girls up. With as cold as the doctor had made it to try and slow the progress of Jeremy's decade, the covers were needed. Everyone did as he instructed, heading back downstairs to wait for the return of Matt and Elena and for the arrival of Damon and Bonnie.


Neither Ellie nor Jenna had woken up by the time the sun had set. The storm continued to howl outside, which made no sense to Stefan since he was fairly certain that Ellie was the origin of the storm in the first place. "How much of that sedative or whatever did you give them?" Caroline asked worriedly. "You didn't overdose them did you?"

"Of course I didn't overdose them." Klaus shot back. "I'm not an idiot. They're fine."

"You won't be if you ever do that shit again." Ellie said groggily from where she stood at the top of the stairs. Her hair was still slightly messed up from how hard she slept, and the viciousness of her glare was cut by the sleep still in her eyes. "Asshole."

Klaus gave her his customary cheeky grin. "I'm only looking out for you, love. Has Jenna woken up yet?"

A small throw pillow came flying out of nowhere, catching Klaus so off guard that it hit him square in the face. "Yeah, asshole." Jenna groaned. "What the fuck did you give us?"

"Just a little thing to help you sleep. Despite your anger, the two of you at least seem a bit more rested." Klaus replied.

"Rested enough to kick your ass." Jenna told him. They most likely weren't awake enough for the reality of everything to settle back in yet. "Are Elena and Matt back yet?"

Stefan turned at the sound of car doors. "They just got back." He told them. A moment later, they were rushing in, trying to make it out of the rain as quickly as they could.

The tension was still thick as Ellie and Jenna watched as Elena made her way into the kitchen, unaware of their dark looks. "Hey, Ellie, why don't you come outside with me?" Caroline suggested. "You used to love dragging me out to watch a storm when we were little."

With Jenna's encouraging nod, Ellie made her way down the stairs and followed Caroline outside. As they took a seat on the swing, Ellie admitted, "I'm so tired, Caroline."

"Do you want to try and go back to sleep?"

"Not that kind of tired." She corrected. "I don't know how to explain it. I'm just tired of this hollow feeling in my chest." She paused for a moment as she aggressively forced her emotions down. "I didn't get to say goodbye."

Caroline's heart twisted. "Ellie, it's not your fault."

"If I hadn't been mad at Elena, I would have been on that island with them. I would have been able to track him down and protect him and I didn't. There are other people's deaths that I blame myself for, but my one job was to keep him safe and I failed." Caroline wanted to reply. She wanted to insist that Ellie understood that this wasn't something that she could have prevented just like how Ellie hadn't given up until she understood that it wasn't her fault that her dad was leaving. But in the back of her mind, she herself felt guilty. Had Kol not died, Jeremy wouldn't be dead either. Jeremy wouldn't have even been a hunter had Elena not killed Connor.

So she opted to sit in silence. They sat on the swing as they were caught by the occasional gust of wind that blew rain onto the porch. She had originally planned on calling Tyler while Ellie was still asleep, but helping her grieving best friend took priority. Ellie had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice a familiar baby blue car pulling up. Bonnie and Damon exited the car and quickly went up to the porch as Caroline stood to greet them. "Thank god. We were so, so worried." Ellie stood as Caroline and Bonnie hugged before she also hugged the other witch.

"I'm ok." Bonnie assured them.

"Blondie, could you get Stefan out here?" Damon asked.

Caroline was still grinning slightly as she said, "They said that she knows what to do."

"What to do for what?"

"To bring Jeremy back." Bonnie replied confidently.

Damon interrupted and said, "Caroline, I need to talk to my brother."

Ellie, despite not being close with Damon and not particularly being in her right mind, picked up on the tone he used. "What's wrong?" Ellie questioned. Damon spared a quick glance to Bonnie. "Care, why don't you take Bonnie inside and send Stefan out?"

Caroline did as she was told, except Klaus and Elijah followed Stefan out. "What the hell?" Damon asked in confusion.

Ellie sighed tiredly. Pointing at Elijah, she simply said, "Boyfriend and boyfriend's brother, they're here because I need them. Now what the hell is going on with Bonnie?"

For once, Damon didn't try to say something unnecessary. Instead, he told them, "Bonnie was talking about this Expression triangle that she needs to complete for Silas."

"For Silas?" Ellie asked.

"She's out of her mind, Sabrina. That nutty professor has got her totally brainwashed." Damon told them. "I mean, the whole flight back home, all she could talk about was how she's the one that can drop the veil between this side and the Other Side."

"Drop the veil?" Stefan asked. "What does that even mean?"

"What it means is, the myth about Silas being able to raise the dead is not just one or some. It's every supernatural being over there. Three massacres, three hot spots, and the witch spell of the century, and every supernatural being over there is back with a vengeance."

Klaus, unsurprisingly, didn't like that plan at all. "Well, obviously we aren't going to let that happen. I'll kill the Shane fellow myself so that he can't mess with the witch's head anymore if that's what it takes."

"She wouldn't kill twelve people. There's no way." Ellie denied. "Surely there has to be some part of Bonnie that hasn't been tainted by Shane that can still think clearly."

"Weren't you the one that said that she unknowingly linked that poor April girl to the professor and nearly got her killed? Her being willing to kill twelve people really doesn't seem like much of a stretch at this point." Klaus replied.

Ellie looked to Elijah for help, but she wasn't sure she could disagree with Klaus. Bonnie had been terrified to do magic anymore before Shane had gotten in her head. There was no telling how much control he had over her. She stood there, listening partially as the four of them discussed what needed to be done when Matt came out with Bonnie and Caroline. "What's going on?" Stefan asked.

"I'm gonna take Bonnie home. It's been a long… week or whatever. She could probably benefit from sleeping in her own bed." Matt said as he led Bonnie to his truck.

All five of them knew that wasn't the full story, and turned to look at Caroline. "April Young just called looking for Jeremy. Elena told her he was dead." Caroline explained.

"Damon, go." Stefan insisted. This was the collision that Dr. Fell had warned them about, and Damon was going to be the only one that was able to ease the pain of it.

He headed inside quickly and Ellie turned to the Mikaelsons. "I really appreciate you guys being here, but you probably shouldn't be here for this part." She told them. Klaus looked like he wanted to say something witty, so she added, "I can't deal with her losing it if she also tries to go after you in her grief."

Elijah kissed her hairline gently. "The moment you need me, I will be here." He promised her.

With his reassurance, Ellie headed back inside with Caroline and Stefan. Jenna was sitting at the kitchen table, tapping out a nervous pattern on the table. It had only been a minute or so of waiting before Elena appeared. "Where's Bonnie?"

"We told Matt to take her home. We thought it'd be best." Stefan replied.

"Ok. I guess we're gonna have to do this the old fashioned way."

Caroline frowned as she asked, "Do what?"

"Put his body on the couch." Elena instructed as Damon made his way down the stairs.

Ellie was on her feet in an instant. "What are you doing?"

"Elena? Elena, do you need help finding something?" Caroline asked.

She grabbed something from one of the bottom cabinets. As she started soaking the counters, Elena told them, "Got it."

"What are you doing?" Stefan demanded as all three girls shot to their feet.

"We need a cover story, right? You think I didn't hear you guys talking earlier?" Elena asked as she started pouring the lighter fluid everywhere. "Well, what are we gonna say? Animal attack? Tumble down the stairs? No. We burn the house down with him inside of it."

"Elena, stop it." Stefan demanded.

"Why? Because you want me to not be in denial? You want me to face the truth? This is the truth, Stefan. I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want these sketches." Elena ranted. As she poured the lighter fluid on Jeremy's drawings, Ellie snapped out of her shock. "I don't want this Xbox."

She had moved to kick it, but Ellie's magic yanked it out of the way. "You're out of your goddamn mind." Ellie's voice was like ice.

Elena ignored her as she emptied the lighter fluid and produced a bottle of bourbon. "Not gonna need this bourbon anymore. Alaric's not here to drink it. I mean, unless you guys are willing to bring back every supernatural creature on the Other Side to get him back. Would you?" She asked Damon specifically. "I know you want your drinking buddy back. Would you, Damon? Because I wouldn't. I don't know. I mean, does that make me a bad person? I mean, I have no idea." She pulled the Gilbert ring off of Jeremy's hand and tossed it to Damon. "He's not gonna need that anymore.

"Elena, stop it! You're scaring me!" Caroline cried.

"What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline?"

"Not this!" Ellie shouted as Elena shattered a picture frame and the bourbon. "What the hell is wrong with you, Elena? This isn't just your house!"

"It's a house of ghosts, Ellie! Can't you see that? It needs to go!" Elena replied.

As she lit a match, Stefan begged, "No, no, Elena, stop."

"There's nothing here for me anymore, Stefan. Every inch of this house is filled with memories of people that I love that have died… my mom, my dad, Jeremy and Alaric, John, even John! I mean, they're all dead. Everyone is dead! So what… what am I supposed to- I mean, how am I gonna… I can't even… there's nothing left for me." Elena cried out as the match burned her fingers.

Damon moved faster than Ellie could react, catching the match with ease. "Elena, I need you to calm down." He told her. Ellie watched as Elena dropped to her knees sobbing, but instead of pity, rage started to build. Elena had no one else to blame for this. It was her fault.

"Damon… help her." Stefan instructed.

He knelt down and held her. "I can help you. I want you to let me help you. I can help you." He told her as he caught her eye.

"How?"

"Turn it off."

"What?" Stefan said in surprise. "No, no."

Ellie's rage intensified as Damon continued, "Just turn it off and everything will go away. That's what you have to do. It's what I want you to do. Just turn it off." Ellie could see the moment Elena's emotions faded away. The vampire just stared blankly into space, clearly feeling nothing. Nothing good could come of this, that was something Ellie knew for a fact. A vampire without their humanity always ended up being a bad thing.

It wasn't long before Caroline left, and Ellie had retreated back to the patio to try and pull herself together. Jenna was, as always, aware that Ellie was in distress. "Talk to me." She said gently.

"Every time." Ellie hissed. "Every single time something bad happens, she manages to get out of the consequences. My brother is dead because of her and now she doesn't even have to feel it. We didn't get that option, Jenna. We have never had that option. We have had to suffer every moment of pain with no release. How many times has our pain been caused directly by her?"

"Ellie, you don't mean that. She's your sister."

"I do mean it. Jenna, I tried for over a year to not think like that, but here we are. She nearly burned everything we have ever had to the ground. She would have had it not been for Damon stopping her. It's her fault." That was the one thing that Ellie was absolutely certain of. She knew it was Elena's fault, just like Jenna knew it whether she wanted to admit it or not. "Admit it."

Jenna just shook her head. "If I let myself blame her for it, I'm afraid I'll hate her. I've lost enough family to last a lifetime, Ellie. I don't want to lose anymore." But she didn't deny that she thought that it was Elena's fault. She just said that she didn't want to lose anymore family, which Ellie understood. Under different circumstances, Ellie might have clung tighter to Elena instead of pushing her away. But after everything, she just didn't want to anymore. "Come on, we should head inside and try to clean up the mess."

They came back inside around the same time Stefan and Damon did and the four of them found Elena standing with a lit match once more. "Elena, don't do this." Damon begged. "We can find another cover story."

"This is the best one. No one will ask questions." Elena told them.

"If you burn down the house, it'll be gone. What if one day when this is all over, you want to come home again?" Stefan's mistake was trying to appeal to an emotion that Elena no longer had.

"I won't."

The match slipped between her fingers, but Ellie was faster this time, her magic catching it in the air and extinguishing it with ease. "I didn't realize that no humanity meant that you were also an idiot that lacked common sense." She said coldly. "How stupid do you have to be to not know that they would do an inspection to try and find the root of the problem? They would find the lighter fluid and alcohol that you poured all over the place and then we would have an even bigger problem on our hands."

Ellie's voice had somehow managed to get even colder than it had before. "You're wrong."

"You're an idiot."

"No, I just don't want this house anymore." Elena shot back.

"Then get out."

Despite not having her regular emotions, Elena's eyebrow quirked up in surprise. "What?"

"Get. Out. You don't want to be here? Then good. Leave. But you will not stand there and take yet another thing from me. You already took Jeremy. You will not take away every memory we ever made in this house away too." There was no hesitation before Elena's neck snapped. Damon rushed to catch her and Ellie simply said, "Get her out of here. I don't want her anywhere near me."

Had they not known better, they would have thought that Ellie was the emotionless one with how composed she was. They spared her and Jenna one last glance before they took Elena's unconscious body and left. "Was that the best decision to make?" Jenna questioned.

"Hell itself would have to freeze over before I let Elena burn this house down." Ellie replied.

"I meant snapping her neck."

"If she doesn't want to be here, then she's more than welcome to get the hell out." Ellie said with a shrug. They still had a million problems that they had to solve, but at least the house would remain standing as long as Ellie was there to protect it.


Author's Note:

Jeremy's dead. Though, no one really knows whether it was Katherine's fault or not. They're just assuming. But even with everything did you guys actually think that I was going to let Elena burn the house down? And while this was a sad chapter, at least we finally got Ellie actually kicking the crap out of Elena. There was something far more satisfying to me to have her throw punches than use her magic for it. As always, I hope you guys enjoyed (even though this was a sad chapter). Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts.

To RiaChan: Katherine does currently have the cure, but come on now, do you really think I'd let her die? I feel like her taking the cure doesn't mess up her redemption, but shows that she's still afraid of Klaus and is willing to do what it takes to survive. As much as she loves Ellie and Jenna, she has no idea if they would be enough to free her. It's not an unreasonable thing for her to do honestly.

To Blu3b3rryT3a: The domestic clean up and bonding was very fun to write. I know. Elijah is normally so mature but he can really be petty sometimes. Caroline is definitely starting to realize she's been on the wrong team. Silas is definitely going to be a pain and don't worry about not responding on the chapter before last, stuff comes up sometimes lol.

To lolistarkiller: Jeremy was still wearing his ring. I don't think Ellie would want to make another ring for Jenna because of how severe the consequences of them are (I.E. becoming a serial killer), but there are other options for keeping her alive, like how Marcel had that spell on Davina to bring her back if she were to die. Plus, lately the only conflict has been between the Mikaelsons and Elena, and Ellie knew that they wouldn't hurt Jenna. But I wouldn't put it past her to try and find something to help keep them safe. And yes, Klaus has let him live for stuff that other people would have died over, and that's part of why Tyler is acting so stupid lol.

To Guest: Yes! She's definitely a lot stronger than anyone has really realized, including herself. Yeah, Jenna is totally on their side and just wants to help. She isn't so cruel that she doesn't care about the Mikaelsons when they're in so much pain. Honestly, everyone realizing just how insane Tyler is acting is just what I wanted, because even in the show it was a lot of rage that wasn't totally necessary. She's definitely reaching the point of not caring if she hurts people's feelings if it means getting them to see how dumb they're acting.

To blissful721: If you get to this chapter, welcome to the story and I'm glad you're enjoying it!

To brigitm28: She really does have so much love in her heart, which I think is a really interesting counter with how much rage she's capable of feeling. Also yes, the domestic vibes and the Klaus and Jenna friendship is really fun to write. Lol, Klaus reading Twilight felt like a nice throwback to season one when Damon read it and them both being confused lol. Yeah, it being present in ff and on the show is something I definitely wanted to highlight on because I feel like it says a lot about them, especially Elena and maybe Damon, because even in the show Stefan started realizing pretty quickly that they were no better than the Mikaelsons. Yeah, it was depressing, but Caroline's always gonna be there for Ellie when things get bad.

To BecomingFearless1F: Oh my god! Welcome! I am literally so honored that you read all of this in three days, it's a lot of chapters for sure. And no, you aren't sleep deprived (well you might be but you weren't mistaken), we are absolutely going to go to NOLA. Yeah, I was an original fan of the show and started watching it back in 2009 when it first came out, even though I was pretty young lol. The fandom is definitely still strong! And one thing you'll learn about me, I love questions so feel free to ask as many as you like! 1) I love Jenna and her relationship with Kat and Ellie as well as Klaus. And fear not, she will absolutely be brought into the TO storyline. 2) I kind of hate Elena, and so Ellie calling her out is just me releasing a bit of that rage lol. And you're right, Damon gets away with a lot because he's hot and Stefan's brother, but Ellie isn't having any of that, even if she doesn't want him dead. 3) Yes! Klaroline is absolutely in the plans! But it will still be a while because I don't think she's ready for him yet and there's some stuff that I want Caroline to go through before she goes to him and NOLA. Hayley will still be Hope's mother, but given that she and Klaus just kind of stayed friends after that, it's not going to hurt Klaroline in the long run. I will absolutely try to give Klaroline the relationship that they deserve. 4) Yes. No words necessary. Also, I update every Saturday around this time.

To Guest(2): Her powers are definitely growing. But the forming family dynamics really are fantastic. Ellie did lose it. And even now this is her dialing back her rage because she's afraid it she lets it all out she'll never come back from it. Jenna and Klaus honestly would make sense with how similar she is to Cami, but I don't think Klaus would cross that line. Probably because Ellie would kick his ass lol. But she's definitely going to end up as a Mikaelson because they're family in the long run. I do like Cami, because she was really good for Klaus, plus the whole dark weapons her family took care of, but I get what you mean about her not being exciting. Though, counter point, I don't think she was meant to be exciting. I think she was meant to kind of be the grounded one of the group, a regular human dealing with the insanity of caring for people who are constantly at war. Tyler has definitely regressed, but he's an idiot sometimes so that's not really surprising.

To WILDSPARK-PRIME: If you finally reach this point in the story, have you liked it so far?

To LucifersAlleyCat: Did you like her ass whooping? Ellie using her hands instead of her magic felt much more satisfying. She took Kol's ring partially because someone suggested it and I liked the idea but also because she really cared about him and she has a tendency to take things from the people she loses. She has grimoires from both Miss Sheila and the Martins, Isobel's daylight necklace, and now Kol's ring. It's something to remember them by. We didn't get much of Jenna's reaction, but she was devastated.

To Guest(3): I think he's just so blinded by rage that he's not really thinking about what he could lose in the process of his rage, just like how in canon, Klaus wasn't thinking about how he might lose Caroline if he killed Carol. And yeah, there's definitely a part of Ellie that hates Damon. But she loves Stefan and because of that, she would never want anything to happen to Damon that he couldn't recover from. But Elena is an idiot so her being inconsiderate doesn't surprise me. I think Tyler just isn't really thinking, he's working on rage the same way Elena was when she brought Esther and Mikael, not thinking about what they could do to the ones she cared about. Caroline has definitely made some mistakes, but honestly she doesn't mean to keep so much from Ellie. Some of the times, she has no clue that Ellie is unaware, but for big things like Kol's death, Caroline didn't know about that either. She could definitely use with some redemption and working to help them though.

-Madame Magic

Posted: 7/17/21