Chapter 83: She's Come Undone
June 3, 2011
Since the prom, Ellie had felt unsettled and unsafe. He'd felt like Elijah and that knowledge still made her skin crawl when she thought about it for too long. Elijah had done his best to reassure her and to keep her safe. Though he knew there was only so much that he could do until Silas was gone for good. Silas had stolen the cure from right under them, which meant all he needed now was to have Bonnie destroy the other side.
Rebekah had been enraged when she'd found out what Silas had done to Ellie. So much so that the tension from finding out about Katherine had faded and left Rebekah even more protective of Ellie than she'd been before. She'd been honest with Ellie and confessed that she still didn't like Katherine, but she didn't like Caroline either and that had never gotten in the way of her friendship with Ellie. So on Ellie's bad days, when she couldn't shake the feeling that Silas was looming over her, she and Elijah would be with Rebekah. Silas couldn't be more than one person, which meant as long as she was with two or more people she was safe. At least safer.
There was one small bright side to everything that had happened though. Stefan and Damon finally thought about it and locked Elena up in the basement of the boarding house. Truthfully, having Elena locked up was a relief. She was tired of dealing with Elena in general and she really didn't want anyone else to die because of her stupidity. Now, Ellie was curled on the couch at Katherine's with books spread out before her. They were split between her school books for her to prepare for finals and her grimoires as she desperately searched for a way to keep Silas out of her head.
Katherine had understood her fear, and had whispered soft words of comfort when Ellie wanted to claw her own skin off out of disgust. As Ellie curled up in her seat, her phone started to ring. "Hello?" Ellie asked as she answered it.
"Hey, Ellie, it's Stefan. Damon and I are going to try to get through to Elena again. I was going to see if you wanted to come over and see if you can get through to her?" Stefan asked her curiously.
Ellie couldn't help her amused laugh as she rubbed her eyes. "Stefan, are you asking me if I want to help you torture my sister into turning her humanity back on?" Ellie questioned.
Katherine appeared out of nowhere. "We're torturing Elena? Can I come?" She asked excitedly.
She snorted and pushed Katherine's face away from the phone. "Oh shut up." Ellie shot back. "You'll be of no help and you know it."
Katherine draped her arms around Ellie's shoulder's as she pouted heavily. "But that would be such a good birthday present." She whined.
Ellie rested her head against Katherine's smiling indulgently. "It's not your birthday yet, Kat. So, still no."
"Are you going to come and help or not?" Stefan asked, though he sounded a bit amused.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. I'll be there soon." Ellie assured him. "Don't have too much fun before I get there."
"See you soon." Stefan replied before he hung up.
"At least promise me you'll make her hurt." Katherine insisted.
As she closed her books after marking her place, Ellie grinned slyly. "I mean, I make no promises to go easy on her."
Katherine kissed her cheek happily. "That's my girl." She praised.
"Plus, if something interesting happens, I'll let you see it later."
"Well, at the very least, that's a decent birthday present." Katherine shrugged. "You should go, I'll see you when you get back."
Once they had her things put away, Ellie was out the door and headed for the Salvatore boarding house. Stefan met her at the door when she arrived. "Hey, thanks for coming. Damon's downstairs with her now." Stefan told her.
Ellie followed him down to the basement. "Wait, where is she?" She asked in confusion.
Damon turned at the sound of her voice and tapped against the safe. "Little Miss Crazy Pants is locked up safe and sound right here." He seemed incredibly pleased to have locked Elena up.
"Making any progress?" She asked curiously.
"Well, I'm forcing her to live through what her senior year could have been. I don't think she's having a lot of fun though." Damon said cheerily.
It was a bit entertaining, but she couldn't help but ask, "I thought you were supposed to be in love with her, so why are you having so much fun?"
"No humanity Elena is a bitch, so I might as well make the most of this." Damon shrugged nonchalantly.
As Stefan walked into the room, he asked, "You still have her locked in the safe? You've been in her head for an hour. What, still nothing?"
Damon didn't answer him, instead he opted to call to Elena, "How you doing in there?" He asked as he yanked the door to the safe open to reveal Elena, collapsed and curled up in the bottom of the safe. "Come on. Is the old you ready to come out and play?"
"Go to hell." Elena groaned.
"Ok. Back you go." Damon said as he shoved her back inside. Ellie saw the way Stefan's jaw ticked slightly, clearly uncomfortable with torturing Elena and wrapped her arm through his, lacing their fingers together. "We can do this the nice way, or we can do it the other way, but either way, we're not stopping until you turn your humanity switch back on. So I'm gonna let you think about that, and I'm gonna come back for you in a couple hours or a couple years because all we have is time."
"How long do you think that's gonna take?" Ellie asked curiously.
"With how stubborn she's being, I have no idea." Damon admitted. "I'm gonna need a drink." Ellie nodded in understanding as they headed back upstairs. "You got any hocus pocus that can help us fix her Sabrina?"
"Historically, witches try to stay the fuck out of vampire business, because it typically gets us killed. So no, my grimoires aren't exactly a 'how to train your vampire' manual. Mostly when it comes to vampires, it's how to defend yourself against one and a couple spells in a few of them on how to make daylight rings.
"Well what good are you then?" Damon huffed as he nearly caused his glass to overflow.
"I can snap a vampire's neck with a thought." She told him with a saccharine smile. "Why not just drain her of her vervain and then have one of the Mikaelsons undo your sire bond crap and let them make her turn it on? Any of them can compel her and make her turn it back on."
"As if I would let Rebekah or Klaus anywhere near Elena." Damon scoffed. "I've had Rebekah inside my head, the little bitch is vicious."
Ellie gave him a look of warning. "Watch it Damon. Do you think she would take well to being told that you're calling her names behind her back? Also, you're forgetting about Elijah."
"I don't trust him either." Damon replied.
"Why? He's never done anything to any of you that you haven't brought upon yourself, because he doesn't really screw people over, that's more your thing." She sassed while Stefan went to open the door.
Damon just glared at Ellie as Caroline stormed inside. "Where is she? I want to see her."
"We're not letting anyone see her." Stefan replied in defeat. "That's the whole point. Isolation leads to misery, leads to emotion."
"Then why is Ellie here?" Caroline asked.
"Because I am a witch that may be of use and they know that I have no intention of doing anything unintentionally stupid, like giving her the chance to escape." Ellie replied. "Not that I think you would risk it, but I absolutely think that she would try and take advantage of you and how much you care. Just like she tried to take advantage of Stefan and Damon and use their feelings for her to get what she wants."
"But she's been here for ages, Ellie. She hasn't improved at all?"
"Look, she doesn't want to, Caroline. Not yet, alright? She's devastated. She lost her brother. She attacked her friends. She killed an innocent woman." Stefan explained.
"You said that you knew how to help her." Caroline said softly.
"I did say that. We are." Stefan replied.
"Wha- how? By torturing her?"
"It's not torture. It's an intervention. The only chance we have with her is to provoke her, to trigger something. Fear, anger, self-pity, anything."
Caroline clearly didn't like that answer. "Let me talk to her before any more interventioning. If she's weak, she can't hurt me."
Ellie gave her a look. "She can't hurt you physically, but that doesn't mean that she can't hurt you with what she says. She'll lash out at you, Care."
"Please, just let me try." Caroline begged them both.
She and Stefan shared a significant look before he sighed. "Alright. Come on." Ellie followed them both down to the basement as he allowed Caroline inside. "Good luck." He told her.
They left her with Elena who was half out of it. "You know that's going to go badly, right?" Ellie asked Stefan curiously as they lingered at the stairs of the basement. Neither of them thought that it was going to take very long for Caroline to realize how far gone Elena actually was right now.
"I know, but you know Caroline. She's ever the optimist, even when things are this bleak. She wants to make things ok, so she's going to do whatever it takes to make them ok." Stefan told her. "How are you though? I ran into Rebekah right after she'd found out what he'd done to you and was furious. I just wanted to check on you."
The mention of Silas made her skin crawl, but she fought the urge to cringe. "It's fine." She told him.
"Ellie…" He said, clearly not believing her.
"It's ok if I'm with a large group. He can't be more than one person at a time, so as long as there's others around I know that I'm safe. But sometimes, I just feel like slimey all over because it's just… it makes me feel uncomfortable in my own skin, you know?"
"He got to Damon and I too. Pretending to be the other and then downing us so that we were out of his way. Stabbed us both." Stefan told her, his irritation evident.
"He stabbed me too." Ellie said, rubbing at the fully healed wound. "Had it not been for Elijah I, once again, would have been dead." Stefan watched as her expression changed and she got lost in her thoughts.
Stefan watched as Ellie began to rub harder at her stomach and her knuckles turned white as she dug her nails into her palm. He didn't hesitate to move forward, pulling her into him and holding her carefully. She tensed, and her arms were trapped between them, before the tension drained and she gripped tightly at his shirt, seeking the familiar comfort that he'd given her over the summer. "We're gonna stop him, El. I promise." He didn't know how, but they would.
When it came to Ellie, he was incredibly loyal, even though he didn't always back her when he should have. There had been times he'd agreed with Elena and her plans, but looking back Ellie had been right when she'd pushed back against them. Had they just put her in the basement when Ellie first told them too, Elena would have never had the chance to kill that waitress and it would have given her one less reason to keep her humanity off. But he'd let his feelings for Elena block rational choice. How many times had he unintentionally hurt Ellie because he refused to listen? He said nothing about the way her nails had started to dig into his back as she tried to ground herself. He knew she just needed a minute to pull herself back.
The sound of a struggle broke them apart and he watched as she closed herself off and they headed back to the room with Elena and Caroline. "Do whatever you have to do." Caroline said softly. "I'm gonna be upstairs." Elena was crumpled with her neck snapped and Ellie just shook her head. It was just like she thought it was gonna be.
"Elena's going to regret all of this when she turns it back on." Ellie told him as he moved Elena into a more natural position.
"I know." Stefan agreed. "That's why she's refusing to flip the switch."
"The longer she puts it off, the harder it's gonna hit her Stefan. Damon should have never compelled her to turn it off in the first place. It's not like Jenna and I had that kind of luxury." She didn't care that she sounded bitter; she was bitter. She was bitter and angry and pissed that Elena, once again, didn't have to deal with the fallout and she wasn't sure that she had the capability of forgiving Elena for Jeremy's death. Even if she was capable, she wasn't sure she would.
"Well what the hell are we supposed to do, Stefan?" Damon was nearly shouting in his frustration. It was only mildly annoying at the moment.
"We have to do something to force an emotion out of her, Damon, and clearly happy high school hallucinations aren't doing the trick." Stefan snapped. "We can't get longing out of her or love or even pity."
Ellie had a sick thought cross her mind. "What about fear?" She asked quietly.
Both brothers turned to face her. "What?" Damon asked.
"You can suppress your pity and anger and love when you need to. But there's only so much fear and pain a person can take before it gets to them. Pain was the whole reason she turned it off. What if pain is the way to force it back on?" When they both gave her a look, she said, "I know it's fucked up, ok? But we all agree that Elena's a raging bitch without her humanity, yes?"
Damon looked reluctant before he confessed, "Yes."
"And we all agree that it's an absolute necessity that she turn it back on because she needs to deal with her shit, yes?" She asked.
"Yes." They replied.
"Then if nothing else works, and you won't let Elijah compel her to turn it back on, the only option you have left is to make her feel pain, or scare her out of her mind." Ellie told them. "The only question is are you going to actually hurt her, or get in her head and make her think she's being hurt?"
"She's too good at figuring out when I'm in her head. If we get in her head she's going to realize that we don't actually want to hurt her." Damon replied. "Alright Sabrina, since you're the one full of sadist ideas today, how are we supposed to hurt her if neither of us actually want to?"
Ellie thought about it for a moment. She couldn't see either of them actually putting their hands on her, at least not to do something that did actual damage. And despite being angry with her, she didn't think she could actually torture Elena. Fighting her was one thing, Elena had a chance to fight back, no matter how small it might have been. She wasn't the one to kick someone when they were down, even if hurting Elena was currently a necessary evil. A breeze caught the bottom of one of the curtains, letting a bit of light in. "That's it." She said in surprise.
"What's it?" Stefan asked.
"None of us can torture her, not really. But you're not doing much if you're just taking her daylight ring away." She suggested.
"You want us to burn her?" Damon asked incredulously.
"You asked what I had and that's all I've got." Ellie admitted.
Stefan and Damon shared a significant look before Damon just shook his head. "Screw it. It's not like we've got any other options." As Damon headed downstairs, Stefan moved one of the armchairs to the center of the room near the floor to ceiling window. It was only a minute later before Damon had Elena secured to the chair. "Safety first." He said as he brought out a fire extinguisher. Ellie was the one to move forward, plucking Elena's ring from her hand. Damon let the extinguisher clang to the floor loudly, and Elena jolted awake. "Good. You're awake. We thought you could use a little sunshine."
As Elena struggled to fully wake up, Stefan knelt down and took a hold of the bottom of the curtain, pulling it back slowly. Ellie watched as realization washed over her sister and couldn't help the satisfaction she felt as she held up the ring her sister was looking for and asked, "Looking for this?"
Damon stepped into the role of Elena's tormentor with surprising ease despite his reluctance earlier. He strolled over to Ellie and slung his arm over her shoulder and grinned at Elena. "Aw, you know the rules. Bad girls don't get nice jewelry."
"You took my ring." Elena rasped. "I'm devastated. And bored. Can I go back to solitary now?"
"No. I kind of like you in the hot seat." Damon told her before glancing over at Stefan. "Whenever you're ready, brother."
"Am I supposed to be scared?" Elena questioned, clearly unimpressed.
"You will be." Ellie assured her as she twirled the ring in her hand.
"And when you are, focus on that fear. It's the key to getting your humanity back." Stefan added.
Elena gave him a look before confidently saying. "You're not gonna burn me."
"You don't think so?" Damon asked.
"No." Elena told him. "And even if you do manage to get my emotions back, I'll remember all this. And I'll hate all three of you for it."
Damon scoffed. "Worth the risk." He decided. Stefan pulled back the curtain until it caught the exposed skin of her hand. Her reaction was immediate, pushing with her feet to try and get away but she was tied too carefully to the chair. Damon let her burn until she caught fire and it started to travel up the sleeve of her shirt. Finally, Damon pulled his arm off from around Ellie's shoulders to grab the fire extinguisher, putting it out with ease as Stefan dropped the curtain. "That feels better, huh? How about a little gratitude or any human emotion whatsoever? And we can stop this." Elena muttered something under her breath and Damon bent down to her level. "I didn't quite catch that."
"I said, I'm gonna kill you." Elena hissed.
"Bingo. See? There's a little rage. I should have figured that'd be the first emotion that came out of you. I tend to pull that out of people." Damon told her.
Unable to help herself, Ellie snorted. "No kidding." She agreed.
Elena looked up at her twin in her face twisted in disgust. "You must be loving this Ellie. You always did want to be me. Hurting me must be a blast for you."
"Maybe her first emotion to come back is desperation." Ellie said to Damon before looking back at Elena. "Tell me, why the hell would I have ever wanted to be you? Someone that cheats on her boyfriends and lies to everyone that cares about her. Someone who backstabs people that have never done anything to her." The anger built in her chest and she couldn't help herself as she said, "You think I would want to be the type of person that keeps getting her family killed? Jeremy, mom, dad, John, Isabelle, Alaric… they all died because of you. You are the last person I would ever want to be."
Damon's hands were on Ellie's shoulders then, pulling her back from where she'd gotten into Elena's face. He said nothing, but the squeeze of her shoulders was enough to pull the rage back, even if it was only by a bit. Stefan knelt down next to Elena, redirecting her attention despite the fact that she looked like Ellie had slapped her. "Elena, look at me. We don't want to do this, ok? You can stop this right now. It's your choice." Stefan said.
Elena recovered from her shock and said, "Kind of funny, actually, you being the one to pull back the curtain. I bet part of you enjoys it since, you know, I dumped you and all." Ellie rolled her shoulders slightly as the rage threatened to make its reappearance.
Damon tucked Ellie under his arm to keep her in place as he said, "Wow, that was downright vindictive. See? I think now we're breaking through that tough candy shell and getting into the ooey-gooey rich center of your humanity. This is good. I think we should shine some light on the subject."
Stefan started to go back to the curtain, but Ellie stopped him, taking his place. Elena scoffed and asked, "Let me guess, this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it hurts me?"
"Nope, this is definitely going to hurt you worse." Ellie shrugged.
"Look, I know what you're going through. After all that you've done, you're afraid to face the guilt you'll feel if you turned your emotions back on. The only way we can help you is to make the alternative hurt even worse." Stefan tried. When Elena didn't respond, he nodded at Ellie and she yanked back the curtain, letting Elena be fully exposed to the sun.
Ellie held the curtain back unflinchingly as Elena screamed. Any other time, she might have been concerned by her own lack of a reaction to her sister being tortured. She might not have had the stomach to be the one to torture her, but here she was burning her sister like it was no big deal. When Damon nodded at her, she dropped the curtain. "You're gonna thank me for this." He said as Elena stopped screaming. "After you turn it back on, you'll realize life with no emotions blew."
"You know what else blew? Being sired to you. Going every day believing that I was in love with you. I remember every horrible moment of it." Elena laughed as she continued. "And you… so scared that it wasn't real. Well, guess what, it wasn't. You were right. So go ahead. Keep trying to get the old me back. Who knows? Maybe Stefan and I will give it another go."
For the first time ever, Ellie felt protective over Damon. He wasn't a good person, but like Katherine he never pretended to be. And despite all the horrible things that he did, he did love Elena. Even Ellie knew that. So for Elena to intentionally dig the knife in so deeply, and cut exactly where she knew to hurt him the most, it pissed Ellie off. He deserved better than that, even if he was a dick. Suddenly, Elena ripped away at her binds and rushed to the window. She pulled the curtain down with a swift motion and promptly burst into flames.
Damon and Stefan reacted immediately, rushing forward with the fire extinguisher and putting out the fire. Elena coughed heavily before she started to laugh. "I am the girl that you love. You wouldn't do anything to actually hurt me. You just proved that. So what do I really have to be afraid of?"
Ellie snapped her neck without hesitation before Damon took her back to the basement angrily. When he came back up he grabbed the bottle of bourbon, heading outside as Ellie and Stefan followed him. "So, that went well." Stefan sassed as Damon drank heavily.
"Every other vampire turns it on, no problem. You kill. You feed. You do all the awful things that a vampire does. And then when you're done, you turn it back on. Why is she being so stubborn?" Damon demanded as he launched the bottle at the house.
It shattered violently as Stefan replied, "Because she has nothing to come back to. She's not exactly welcomed in her home anymore. Her family is either dead or angry with her. She alienated her friends. She destroyed her relationships."
"No. She wants to come back. Scaring the hell out of her should have worked. She's smart. She knows we're not gonna hurt her." Damon told them.
"All right. So we get somebody else, somebody who really will hurt her." Stefan suggested.
"Who?"
Ellie grinned slightly. Maybe she would be giving her an amazing birthday present after all. "Who do you think?" Ellie replied.
"Katherine?" He asked them both in shock.
"Elena thinks that Katherine is the reason that Jeremy's dead, right? So if anybody's gonna provoke an emotion, it's her." Stefan explained.
"So we call her and then what? Beg her to help us out of the kindness of her own heart? Are you kidding me?" Damon asked.
"Katherine has hated Elena from the moment she found out about her. Elena has gotten to have everything that Katherine wanted, family that's still alive, someone that's in love with her, people that would do anything to protect her. She blames Elena for getting to survive where she had to run." Ellie told him.
"We invite her into our house to come torture Elena? There's no way she's gonna turn that down." Stefan insisted.
Ellie nodded. "He's right. She won't pass that up."
Damon looked at them like they were insane. "Fine, fine, but this is going to blow up in our faces, just so the two of you are aware." He eventually said as he caved. "Call the bitch."
She rolled her eyes before walking out further into the yard and dialing Katherine's number. "Hello, gorgeous, miss me already?" Katherine teased as she answered the phone.
"Of course." Ellie replied without hesitation. "So much so that I've decided to give you the best birthday gift."
"I've had over five hundred birthday's Ellie. Are you really sure that your gift would be able to top them all?" Katherine questioned.
"Without a doubt." Ellie informed her.
"And what exactly is this gift supposed to be?"
"How would you like to come over to Stefan and Damon's to torture Elena into turning her humanity back on?"
There was a pause before Katherine replied, "Are you fucking with me right now? Are you being serious?"
"Dead serious." Ellie assured her. "I'm really asking you to come torture her."
"There's no way that Stefan and Damon would let me near her."
"It was Stefan's idea."
She could practically feel Katherine beaming. "You're right. This is the best birthday present. I'll be there soon." Katherine promised.
"See you soon." Ellie laughed as she ended the call. As she walked back toward the house, Damon had disappeared somewhere, but Stefan remained. "She'll be here in a bit. She didn't say when exactly she would get here though."
"You're ok with her torturing Elena?" He asked curiously.
"Stefan, it was your idea."
"I know, I know. I don't know, I just thought that you would have put up more of a fight on it." He admitted.
She gave him a sympathetic look. "Stefan, she tried to hurt Caroline's mom. She's like another to me and she tried to kill Caroline. I know you probably think that I should be understanding because she's traumatized blah blah blah, but so am I damn it. But everyone is so fucking preoccupied with making sure she's ok no one thinks twice about checking on me."
Her frustration was evident and Stefan felt worse than he had before. "Is that what you think, El? That I don't care if you're ok?" He asked.
"It's not that I think that you don't care, it's that you're more worried about her than me. It's always go to Elena first. Is Elena ok? Where is Elena? Stefan you guys left me in the middle of nowhere because all you and Damon cared about was getting Elena out. Had it not been for Elijah not being dead, how long would I have been stuck out there? How do you guys think that made me feel? And you all wondered why I sided with him? Stefan, he has always put me first."
Her relationship with Elijah suddenly made a lot more sense, and the guilt he felt clawed at him. "I'm sorry." He told her sincerely. When she put it like that, a lot of her decisions made a lot more sense, especially with who she was close with, like Katherine. The vampire loathed Elena, but it confused him more to know that she and Ellie were so close. When Ellie made a face he repeated, "No, I'm serious. Being Elena's boyfriend was one thing, but you're my friend and after everything, you deserved better than what I gave you."
Ellie was almost uncomfortably emotional with his sincerity. "Thank you." She replied, before she added, "We should go wait inside. I'm sure Katherine will be here soon." She could feel that Rebekah was in the parlor, though she could no longer sense Caroline. But she didn't have the energy to handle whatever was going on. Dealing with Elena was draining, though she was sure Katherine would be excited.
Instead, Ellie went up to Stefan's bedroom and flopped out on the bed. "Are you ok?" Stefan asked as he looked at the witch sprawled out carelessly.
"I'm fantastic. Just wake me up when Katherine's here." Ellie instructed. Stefan watched as she curled up, fumbling for the blanket that had been tossed on the bed earlier to pull it up around her. She settled quickly and as he'd quietly moved around the room to straighten up, he heard her breathing even out within a few minutes. How much sleep had she been getting?
He ended up staying in the room with Ellie as she slept, though he stayed at his desk writing in his journal. About an hour later, the sound of an unfamiliar car caught his attention. He moved to wake Ellie up, shaking her shoulders gently. "Ellie, Ellie wake up." He said gently.
Her reaction was aggressive. She woke violently, gasping awake as her magic shot out around her, slinging him back. Ellie scrambled to sit up on the bed, looking at him with wide eyes before she realized where she was. "Oh shit. Stefan, I'm so sorry!" She apologized frantically as she slid off the bed to help him up. "I'm so sorry."
"Are you ok?" He asked again as he took her offered hand.
"Am I ok?" She repeated. "You're the one that just got slung across the room. I should be asking you that."
"I'm ok." He assured her. He wanted to ask her what caused her to react like that, so violently. It reminded him of when he fought in World War II. The soldiers that would wake with an attack because it was the only way they knew to stay alive. He opted not to push. It wasn't the time and he wasn't sure that Ellie would be honest even if he asked.
She didn't want to tell him about her nightmares. The sick feeling that Silas' touch left on her. It made her feel nauseous and she tried to hide the way she was clawing at the back of her neck where his hand had been. To make the nightmares worse, she dreamt of him hurting Elijah. It was confusing though, because he wore Stefan's face in her nightmare. Stefan's familiar face tinted with a violence that Stefan never displayed, not even when his humanity was off. Silas had forced her to watch as he destroyed Elijah with ease. Or the way he'd approached her after… the way he'd tried to- "Thank you for waking me up." Ellie said in an attempt to distract her own mind. "Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, Katherine just pulled up." Stefan told her.
Relief washed over her instantly. Everything would be fine if she was with Katherine. "Ok. Good."
They headed downstairs quickly as Ellie wiped the sleep from her eyes. As they came down the stairs, Ellie heard Katherine's familiar drawl. "What a beautiful sentiment."
"Seriously? You can't knock?" Damon asked.
"Sorry. I didn't realize we were standing on formalities." Katherine sassed.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Rebekah demanded as Ellie and Stefan walked in.
Katherine slung an arm over Ellie's shoulder as she smugly asked, "You didn't get the memo? I'm here to talk some sense into poor emotionless Elena."
Matt stood from where he'd been sitting on the couch. "Are you out of your mind?"
"You got a better idea, Prom King?" Damon replied. "Unless you want me to lock you up in there with her, I suggest you shut up and let the adults handle this."
"Ellie, surely you don't think this is a good idea?" Matt asked.
Katherine's grin grew. "Oh Matty Blue, Ellie's the one who invited me to the party."
Rebekah looked surprised as she turned back to Matt. "Well, it looks like the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Where are you going?"
"I'm calling Caroline. There's no way we're letting that psycho in there with Elena." Matt snapped as he stormed out.
Katherine just rolled her eyes. "Aw, I'm hurt."
The four of them headed toward the basement though Damon looked like he didn't want Katherine anywhere near Elena. "You realize you can't kill her, right?" He asked.
"I know, unfortunately. But that means that anything up to that point is fair game. You wouldn't hurt her, but I will." Katherine promised. She turned to Ellie and said, "I know you're strong, Ellie, but even I wouldn't recommend you watching this." She told her. Ellie felt a momentary rush of concern before Katherine added, "I promise I'm not gonna kill her, but I can't promise that it won't get messy."
Stefan and Damon both watched with interest as Katherine acted almost… gentle with Ellie. They were so used to the version of Katherine that would rip a man's throat out if he so much as looked at her the wrong way. This one seemed much more… delicate. Of course, neither of them would dare to say that to her. Katherine gave Stefan a look. Her quirked up eyebrow made it clear that she wanted his assistance. "Katherine's right." He found himself saying. "If you're there, Elena will try and use you to get what she wants. You should stay up here."
Katherine shot him a wink. "Exactly. The little wannabe and I need to have a chat, vampire to vampire." Katherine added. "Don't worry. I won't be long I'm sure."
Another look at Stefan had him gently taking a hold of Ellie's wrist pulling her back toward the stairs. "They'll both be fine." He assured her.
They weren't fine. Well, Elena wasn't. As Ellie came back downstairs, Stefan rushed into the room. "She's gone!"
"What?" Damon asked as he sat up straighter.
"Elena's not in her cell. I'm gonna check the grounds. Find out what she did." Stefan instructed.
"Oops. Did I forget to lock her in?" Katherine asked sarcastically. She turned to Damon before adding, "Let's just say I've lost interest in Elena's recovery. I'd rather watch her tear through an orphanage. Imagine trying to come back from a spiral like that."
"Katherine…" Ellie scolded.
The vampire turned to face her. "Oh come on Ellie, do you even want her to recover? Or do you want her to hurt like you did because of her? We both know I wouldn't blame you. She deserves to hurt. The more damage she does now, the more it's going to bite her in the ass. Honestly you should just ignore what Tweedledee and Tweedledum told you and have Elijah make her turn it back on. He's wrapped around your little finger, we both know he'd do it."
She was right, though Ellie didn't want to admit it. "Come on." Damon groaned as he led both girls toward the front of the house.
"Elena's gone? What happened?" Matt called.
"Donovan, Sabrina, you're coming with me." Damon instructed.
"Why should they?" Rebekah asked incredulously.
"Because Elena's hungry and missing. For once, his life might actually have a purpose and Sabrina is extra firepower." Damon said as they left Katherine and Rebekah behind. "Sabrina, you wouldn't happen to have one of the Gilbert rings on you, would you?"
It immediately made her nervous of his plan. "What? Why?" She asked.
"The whole reason Elena's a vampire in the first place was because she was adamant to save his life. I'd be more than a little irritated if he died now. She's hungry. I'm not so much of a dick to send him in defenseless." He told her. She stopped walking to give him a look of disbelief. "Ok, I am that much of a dick, but it won't help us get her back if she accidentally kills him. "That was something she could believe. She tried to not give them a reaction as she carefully pulled Isobel's necklace out from where it had been tucked under her shirt. Unlocking the clasp, she carefully pulled off Jeremy's ring from where she'd been keeping it. "El…" Matt said softly as he took the ring from her.
"Just don't lose it." She instructed.
"I won't." He promised as he slid the ring onto his finger. "Now what?"
"We have to find her." Damon said. "You're the bait. Sabrina do you think that you could locate her and direct Matt where to go?"
For a moment, her mind swam as she searched for a possible solution. "I might, but I've never done it before."
"Tell me what you need." Damon instructed.
"A map and candles… and a knife." Ellie told him. "If I can perform two locator spells at once I can track her and then lead Matt straight to her." Damon led them toward the garage where Matt's truck was parked and quickly produced what she asked for. He watched as she cut her hand without hesitation and the blood pooled on a corner of the map. "Matt, I need your hand." She told him. Unlike Ellie, he flinched as she drug the knife across his hand. She let his blood fall on the other corner of the map before she healed his hand.
"Thanks." He said gratefully.
Both boys watched as the candles shot to life and Ellie started to chant, "Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem. Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem. Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem." At first, she wasn't sure it was going to work, but after a moment, both piles of blood began to move. Matt's moved faster before it stopped on the house. Elena's took longer for her to find, but she kept going until Elena's locked on, moving slowly as it followed Elena's sluggish movements. "I've got her."
"Alright Donovan, get in your truck and head toward her. Sabrina and I will keep you updated if she moves." Damon instructed.
Ellie nodded in confirmation and Matt set off for his truck. Once he was off, she called his cell phone so that she could instruct him with ease. She muted herself before she asked, "Alright, what exactly is the plan. We get Matt to Elena, use him as bait, and then what?"
"You, Stefan, and I go to them. At this point, if we have to break her to get her to turn it back on then that's what we'll do." Damon told her.
She unmuted herself to tell Matt, "Head west for about a mile. Yes, that way." After she muted herself again she asked, "And how are we going to do that?"
"Do you trust me?" He asked.
"Not in the slightest." She replied without hesitation.
He took no offense, even he knew that she had no reason to trust him. "Do you trust that I'll do whatever it takes to fix Elena? I'm the one that compelled her to turn it off. I now realize that that was a really bad idea. I want to fix it."
She didn't think that Damon had ever looked at her with so much sincerity. She might regret it later, but she finally told him, "Yes. I trust that you want to fix it."
"We're gonna need Stefan. Keep Donovan on the right track while I get Stefan here." Damon instructed.
"You're almost there Matt. Go slightly left if you can." Ellie instructed.
After a moment, Matt replied, "I see her. She's just up ahead."
"Good, ok try and keep her there. We're getting Stefan now and then we'll be on our way. And Matt… try not to die."
"I'll be careful, I promise." He assured her. She watched as the two piles of blood mixed into one as Matt found her.
"Where's Stefan?" Ellie asked as Damon returned.
"On his way. Has he found her?"
"He has. We need to get to them before she kills him." Ellie told him. Once Stefan arrived, she double checked the map to make sure that Matt and Elena hadn't moved. "If she hears us coming, she'll try to run."
"So we get close quickly and then move carefully the rest of the way." Stefan suggested. He took a glance at the map before picking Ellie up without hesitation and taking off. She closed her eyes as the wind whipped past them and after a while they came to a halt. "Can you sense her?" He asked as they looked around.
Her magic spread out, searching for Elena. "This way. Come on." Ellie told them. They didn't think to grab flashlights, though why would they, Ellie was the only one that needed it. Instead, she held onto Stefan as she practically stumbled her way through the dark. They'd been walking in the right direction for a few minutes before Stefan paused. "What is it?"
"She's going to drain him."
And then Stefan was gone, his energy moving to meet Elena's. "Son of a bitch." Ellie hissed because a moment later Damon was gone too, leaving her alone in the darkness. She carefully moved through the trees until she could spot the lights of Matt's truck up ahead.
Damon's voice drifted through the trees as he said, "You are acting like a little spoiled brat. You know that? You think that we can't punish you. Maybe not. But I can sure punish him."
"Seriously, you think this is-"
"Shut up." Damon snapped. Truthfully, there was something satisfying about him being so done with Elena. "I'm done playing nice. Turn your emotions back on right now, Elena, or so help me, God, I will give you something to be sad about. I will kill him right here in front of you."
"Damon!" Ellie shouted. She knew that Matt had the ring on and would be fine if Damon actually did it, but Elena didn't.
"Don't 'Damon' me!" He shouted back at her as she kept moving forward. "If she doesn't love anyone, fine. Prove it. And if I'm wrong, what difference does it make? One less bus boy."
"You're bluffing." Elena said uncaringly.
He wasn't. The sound of Matt's neck snapping was haunting and for a moment, Ellie forgot that he would be fine as a scream tore through her. "No!" Damon caught her as she lunged forward, pulling her away from Matt's lifeless body.
"How bout now? You feel anything now? You angry I just turned your buddy into roadkill?" Damon asked as Elena covered her mouth in horror. "Or are you sad that the guy that everybody loves is just a bag of bones? Or that your sister is hurting? Remember when he was a little kid, huh? Warm heart. Big goofy smile, his whole life ahead of him." Elena was shaking her head as her eyes watered. Damon carefully let go of Ellie and bent down in between her and Matt. "I guess it was a good idea that he was wearing this."
Elena collapsed to her knees, reaching for his hand. "Oh my god, Matt."
"You feel that weight lifting off your chest? That's joy. Because your friend isn't dead. That's emotion, Elena. That's humanity." As she started to cry, he tried to reassure her. "You're gonna be ok."
"No."
"Look at me."
"No, no, no, it's not ok." Elena cried.
"Elena-"
"What have I done?"
"Hey, it's ok." Damon soothed.
Stefan moved to Ellie, touching her gently as she focused on Matt's body. "What did I do? I almost killed him. Matt… I almost- and then Bonnie and Caroline. I just-" Damon tried to hold her but she shoved him away. "No, no! That woman, the waitress, I actually killed that waitress. No, I killed that waitress!" She slammed herself against Matt's truck, shattering the glass.
As Damon grabbed Elena, Stefan moved in front of Ellie, shielding her from the scene. "Look at me, look at me!" He demanded Elena. "I know this stage. The emotions are overwhelming you. You just have to focus on one thing, ok?" His hand was wrapped tightly with Ellie's as she tried to control her emotions. Matt's body was starting to look like Elijah's as her mind blurred reality and her nightmares.
"No, I can't. I can't." Elena sobbed.
"Just find that one thing inside of you that makes you strong. It's in there. Just latch onto it. Channel everything you're feeling into that one emotion. Find the thing inside of you that makes you want to live. Elena, let it in. Let it in." As her breathing slowed, Stefan continued. "That's good. That's it. That's it. Just breathe it in. Blow everything else out." He stepped closer toward Elena, though he didn't let go of Ellie.
Elena sobbed loudly, but Ellie felt like she was shut down, unable to actually care. She didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted Elijah. Or Katherine. She wanted to be anywhere that Elena wasn't. "You ok?" Damon questioned.
"No. I'm not ok. But I'll get better." Elena promised as she walked away. She said nothing to Ellie, but that was a relief because Ellie had no idea how she would have responded.
Damon lifted Matt up, loading him into the truck. "Come on Sabrina, get in. I'll take you back to the house." He cleared out the broken glass and surprisingly caught Ellie as she stumbled slightly. "I've got you." He told her as he helped her into the truck. "Stefan, try and keep an eye out for Elena." Stefan just nodded in understanding. On the ride back to the house, Ellie said nothing and thankfully Damon didn't try to make conversation. When they got back to the house, Damon said, "I'm taking Donovan inside. Are you staying?"
"No, I think I want to go home." She said softly. She went back to her car, piling inside but before she could even get out of the driveway, her phone was ringing. "Hello?"
"Ellie! Ellie help me!" Caroline cried frantically.
Her exhaustion vanished as she focused on just how scared Caroline sounded. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"My mom! Silas hurt my mom and she's not waking up!" Caroline was sobbing. "Ellie, please she won't wake up. What do I do?"
"Where are you? I'm on my way. Does she have a pulse?"
"We're at home. Silas came to me at Stefan's and wanted to know where Bonnie was but he was already here when I got home. She has a pulse but barely. She's barely breathing, oh god. I fed her my blood but it's not working. Why isn't it working? Mom, please open your eyes!"
Ellie pressed down on the gas as her heart raced. She couldn't lose Sheriff Forbes. She wouldn't let Caroline go through that. She couldn't. "Just hold on, Caroline. I'm coming, just breathe." She soothed. Listening to Caroline cry as she drove felt like getting stabbed. It was too strong of an ache. Caroline meant the world to her. She couldn't let her suffer this kind of pain.
When she pulled into the drive, she flew into the house. "Ellie help me!" Caroline cried. She was too panicked to even think that it might be Silas before her instead of her best friend.
"Sheriff Forbes!" Ellie called as she dropped beside Caroline. She immediately started to chant, desperate to save the woman before her.
"Mom… open your eyes. Come on." Caroline begged. "Wake up. You have to wake up. You have to see me graduate. I swear I'll get… I swear I'll get you out of this town and find you a nice man."
Ellie was pouring every ounce of strength she had into the spell as her hands rested on Sheriff Forbes' forehead and chest. "You don't get to leave us yet." She whispered insistently as the wind outside howled. Just as she was about to give in, Sheriff Forbes opened her eyes before she started to cough.
"Mom?" Caroline asked shakily. "Oh my god, mom." She and Ellie didn't hesitate to wrap their arms around the older woman, holding her tightly and hugging her as tightly as they could. "Oh thank god."
She felt so relieved that she might throw up. "You're ok?" She asked shakily.
Sheriff Forbes gave them both a gentle smile. "I'm ok." She assured them. "What happened?"
"Silas." Caroline told her. "He attacked you. I couldn't get you to wake up. I thought you were… I thought I lost you. My blood wasn't working. But Ellie, Ellie saved you."
Sheriff Forbes cupped Ellie's cheek gently. "Thank you." She replied.
Ellie felt overwhelmed. From Matt dying to Elena turning her humanity back on to Sheriff Forbes nearly dying. It was just too much, but she swallowed down that panic. For now, she would just focus on the relief she felt knowing that Sheriff Forbes was safe.
Author's Note:
Damon and Ellie working together? What has the world come to? Honestly it was kind of fun writing them together without them being at each other's throats. I'm so so sorry this is so late. I'm just trying to get back into the swing of school and also being sick. I'll try to keep the schedule as regular as possible. As always, thank you guys so much for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts.
To NaRuKo-InuTaiSHo-XD: Thank you so much, I hope you enjoy this one as well.
To surgeonlaw: I'm so glad you love my Katherine, I love her too. She'd love to take a hit at Silas for hurting Ellie. And hopefully Klaus will realize how stupid he was acting, but it's Klaus so who knows.
To Rose1414: I'm so glad! Thank you so much for being patient, I hated missing Saturdays but I just did not have the time to write.
To brigitm28: It does make him act stupid, but it would be out of character if he didn't make at least some stupid decisions. It really is an honor that you think this is the storyline that Kat and Jenna deserved. It's not that she beats herself up, she just feels gross and violated, understandably. Thank you for being amazing and patient.
To skyellebaby: She definitely knows that Elijah isn't upset with her, she just feels gross. Cami will be showing up, and yes Klaus definitely needs therapy. I plan on Katherine getting her freedom, it'll just take time. She'll definitely help Hayley, especially with Hayley getting pregnant, it won't be easy for her and Ellie knows that. I'm very sorry about your great-grandfather, but I hope you're ok. Also good luck with classes.
To Daddy's LiL HeartBreaker: I'm also feeling a sorta a friendship between Jenna and Klaus. But yeah, Ellie's definitely struggling with how much goes on in Mystic Falls. Exactly! Like I don't think Elena every really thinks. But I hope my version of events is a good version.
To DarkAngelmi818: Is that something you would like to see? Would you want her to have a baby?
To Qewbix: Silas is a twat and yes Klaus will forgive Ellie he's just an idiot sometimes. Damon and Bonnie endgame huh? I do like the sound of that. I like Damon a lot better when he's not up Elena's ass.
To Chusii: Thank you so much that means a lot!
To cloudyazurephoenix: Thank you so much! You have no idea how much that means to me!
To Blu3b3rryT3a: Thank you so much!
-Madame Magic
Posted: 9/4/21
