Chapter 84: The Walking Dead

June 12, 2011

Her nightmares last night, though awful, weren't as traumatizing as the nightmares from the night before. She still dreamt of Silas and feared his reappearance. Her mind gave her twisted scenarios of things that could have happened, like Sheriff Forbes not waking up. It was only a small amount of sweet relief that she didn't continue to torment herself with nightmares of losing Elijah. It was never ending and she was so, so tired. When she woke, Elijah wasn't in the bed, though his spot was still warm. Despite her urge to go and find him, she couldn't bring herself to get out of the bed. Instead, she opted for sitting up and curling into a small ball as her thoughts raced. "My love?" Elijah asked as he walked into the room. "Are you alright?"

"Mmhmm." Ellie hummed softly.

He moved to sit on the edge of the bed at her feet as he reached out to cup her cheek. "Eleanor? Talk to me."

"I'm so tired, Elijah." She confessed. "I don't know how much longer I can do this." Had they had this conversation before? She couldn't remember.

"How much longer you can do what?" He asked.

"Deal with Mystic Falls." She confessed shakily. "It's never ending. Sheriff Forbes almost died because of Silas. I almost died because of him, but it's not just him. It's like this place is cursed and I can't escape it." She told him.

He looked at her curiously before asking, "What do you want to do? Do you want to leave? You graduate tomorrow my love, there's nothing else holding you here."

Did she want to leave? She really wasn't sure how much longer she could do this. "I think so." She confessed. "But I don't know where we'd go."

He smiled softly at her. "I will give you the entire world, Eleanor. All you have to do is say the word. Wherever you want to go, we will go." He promised. There was nothing more that he wanted than to get her out of Mystic Falls. At this point, he was fairly certain that they both knew it was going to kill her if they kept it up. All this town brought her any more was pain and suffering, and it drove him mad. He didn't want to try and dictate her life or control her, so he couldn't just take her away. Unless he had no other options. He'd rather she be alive and mad at him then dead.

"I don't need the world. I just need you." She replied. It was more than cheesy, but it was true. He meant the world to her and at this point, all she really wanted was him. College right now just felt wrong. Truthfully, without Silas messing with her head, Elijah was her safe place. There was nothing she really had to worry about when she was with him because she knew he'd do anything to protect her.

He kissed her then. It was firm, like he was trying to express his emotions through the kiss because he wasn't quite sure how to word them. Though he didn't hide his frustration as Ellie's phone went off. He would take her away, that much was decided. Wherever she wanted to go. Like always, her phone interrupted them. She answered it without hesitation. "Sheriff Forbes? What's wrong?"

"Ellie, hey, I'm sorry to bother you. I hope you weren't busy." Sheriff Forbes apologized.

"No, it's fine. I doubt you would call if it wasn't important. What's wrong?" She asked.

"Would you be able to come down to the hospital? We have a situation here." Sheriff Forbes replied.

"What kind of situation?" Ellie asked worriedly. "Is everyone ok? Are you ok?"

"I'm ok, Ellie I promise. But we've got bodies here and an unusual cause of death. I've been trying to get a hold of Stefan but he hasn't answered yet."

Ellie frowned as she dragged herself out of the bed. "Would you like for me to try and call him?"

"No, no, that's fine. I'll keep trying him. I'll text you where to go and I'll meet you there." Sheriff Forbes assured her.

"Alright, I'll get dressed and head over there now." Ellie assured her before ending the call. She groaned heavily, crawling over to Elijah and dropping her head heavily on his shoulder. "I should get dressed."

"You don't have to go." He reminded her as he rubbed gentle circles into her back.

"Yes. Yes, I do." She replied. "Sheriff Forbes wouldn't call me if she didn't need me."

"And she wouldn't call you if she knew you were exhausted." He countered.

He was right, she knew it, but she was admittedly stupid and stubborn when she shouldn't be. Elijah felt a near desperation to help her, though he was careful to not show it. She was just so insanely good, and he was worried it would be the death of her. "What the bloody hell happened?" Klaus' voice was as sharp as a whip, startling Ellie so violently that her magic whipped out of her control, slamming him into the wall hard enough to dent it. He was lucky she didn't accidentally send him through it.

"What the fuck, Klaus?" Ellie snapped as she released the death grip she had on Elijah's sleeve.

He dusted himself off as he let himself into the room. "What happened?" He demanded.

"What are you talking about, Niklaus?" Elijah asked. He was by far the calmest in the room.

"Silas." Klaus hissed. "He hurt her. What did he do? Rebekah won't bloody tell me what happened." Ellie's heart beat out a panicked pattern at Silas' name. Klaus finally seemed to realize he was going a bit overboard and softened his tone. "Did he hurt you?" He asked in a tone that was far more gentle than it had before.

"You mean other than the part where he stabbed a knife into my lungs and I almost choked on my own blood? Oh no we had a great time dancing, an absolute blast, y'know?" Ellie sassed defensively. She didn't really want to think about it.

Klaus looked murderous. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but the last time we had a nice little chat you ended up trying to strangle me, Klaus. Didn't realize that you would even care." Ellie shot back.

"Of course I care!"

His sincerity was surprising, especially when he was still in front of Elijah. "How was I supposed to know when you reacted like that before?" Ellie asked.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "So we had a spat. What of it? All families have spats." Ellie's mood shifted instantly. "What?"

Her mood shifted instantly as realized what he said. She released Elijah as she moved toward Klaus with a grin. "We're family now are we? Well then no wonder you acted like an ass."

"You're hilarious." He said in an unimpressed tone. "You should have told me that he attacked you."

"He wants Bonnie and he said Elena and the others were getting in his way." Ellie told him.

He noticed the way Ellie rubbed against a spot in the chest, though he doubted that she knew she was doing it. There was a sudden rush of uncomfortable guilt that rushed over Klaus as he watched her and as he watched Elijah hover just behind her, ready to protect her if it were needed. Had he reacted another way to the news of Katerina, would she have been honest with him about Silas? Would he have even found out had it not been for Rebekah slipping up? "Ellie…"

"If that was all Klaus, I have to get ready. Sheriff Forbes called me and I have places to be." Ellie told him as she pulled away.

"I'm sorry."

The apology was unexpected and had both Ellie and Elijah turning to face Klaus in surprise. "For what?" Ellie asked.

"For my reaction to the news of your… friendship with Katerina. You are far more breakable than my siblings and I was… out of line." Klaus said as he carefully chose his words. Both Ellie and Elijah knew Klaus actually apologizing sincerely was quite a rare thing and he watched as Ellie smiled gently at him.

She turned back, moving toward Klaus and hugging him tightly. Klaus rolled his eyes before hugging her back. "I missed you too, Klaus." Being on better terms with Klaus again felt like a relief and she felt a bit safer, though she knew he wouldn't want her getting hurt even when they were arguing. As she pulled away, she told him, "But if you do that to me again you're gonna lose body parts. Got it?"

"I'm terrified." Klaus said sarcastically. Elijah wasn't going to say anything because he knew Klaus would give him grief over it, but he was incredibly proud of his brother for apologizing. "Why did Sheriff Forbes call you?" He asked as he changed the topic.

"Because she needs help with something, I don't know the details, she just told me where I needed to go."

"Do you want us to go?" Klaus offered.

"No, it's fine. Just… I don't know, do some brother bonding or something. We all know you could use it." Ellie replied with a shrug as she went digging through the closet to find something to wear.

Once she was dressed, she left the two Mikaelsons and headed for the hospital. She wasn't sure where exactly to go, but it didn't take long before she ended up bumping into Damon who was leaning casually against the counter a few feet away from a hall that was blocked off with police tape. "Hey there, Sabrina. Come to join the party?"

"Damon." She said in greeting. There was a brief sense of panic as her brain reminded her that he could be Silas, but until she had a reason to believe he wasn't himself she would keep her magic in check. "What the hell happened?"

"Not sure, Liz called and asked for me to come so I did." He said with a shrug. Not knowing what else to say to the older Salvatore, she settled in place beside him and waited for Sheriff Forbes and for Stefan. She didn't have to wait long before Stefan strolled in with purpose and Damon quipped, "You just missed the donuts."

"Yeah, I was with Elena burning off a few thousand hate-filled calories. What happened to you helping me?" Stefan asked as Damon moved toward him.

"Help? Yes. Prolonging the inevitable? Waste of my time." Damon sassed.

Stefan hummed slightly. "You're avoiding. How unexpected."

"I'm not avoiding. Elena's only goal is to end Katherine's life, and that's not gonna just magically disappear with pilates and a juice cleanse." Damon told him. Elena wanted to kill Katherine? This was the first time Ellie had heard anything about it. It didn't really surprise her, Elena loved to find someone else to blame for her problems.

Before she could say something about it, Sheriff Forbes called, "Hey guys, thanks for coming."

"Hey." Stefan said as he turned to face the Sheriff.

Ellie stepped in between the brothers as Damon asked, "Why were we invited?"

"Well, the hospital has kept the blood banks empty ever since they were raided last month. We thought at the very least it would keep the vampire population away." She explained.

"And it didn't?" Stefan questioned.

"See for yourself."

She moved aside to let the three of them down the hallway. "Whoa." Damon said in surprise as they walked into the room. Before them was someone that was clearly dead with pools of blood beneath them on the floor.

"There were four other victims in this wing. Each one almost completely drained of blood. You think it's Silas?"

"Or a doctor with some very questionable bedside manners." Damon replied as he moved forward to get a closer look.

Ellie instinctively reached out for Stefan's hand. He latched on immediately, lacing their fingers together as she moved closer toward him. Was it just for her comfort? Or for his comfort as well? He still didn't do the best when it came to being surrounded by blood. "But five victims? It's a lot of blood and it's not like he can take it with him."

"Unless he's fueling up for something big." Stefan suggested.

"Big? Any details would be helpful considering I'm dealing with five grieving families out there and a psychic killer on the loose." She asked.

"Silas wants Bonnie to do a spell to drop the veil from the Other Side." Damon replied.

"I have no idea what that means."

"It's an invisible wall that separates our plane from the plane of all dead supernatural creatures. Now, Silas wants that to go away so he can take the cure, die, and not have to spend an eternity in a supernatural purgatory." Damon told her.

"But the problem is that if Silas manages to drop that veil, every single supernatural being that has ever died at any point in time comes back. Which means every vampire or werewolf or witch that has anything against any of us can and will come for us." Ellie added.

"And when do you suppose Silas plans on doing this?" Sheriff Forbes asked.

"Next full moon." Damon replied. "Tomorrow night."


They'd been with the Sheriff for hours as they tried to figure out what Silas was planning when the power had cut unexpectedly. The emergency power that the hospital had cut on, but everyone was still scrambling to try and find out what happened. Ellie was gathered with the others as Sheriff Forbes explained, "The power outages originated at three different places in town." She held her flashlight over the map as she highlighted the areas of origin. "The Young Farm, the Lockwood Estate, and a blown transformer off Old Miller Road."

"Well, these are the locations of the Silas massacres." Stefan told her. "It's the Expression Triangle. Bonnie must be doing the spell."

"So much for needing a full moon." Damon replied.

"And there's something else. One of the power guys has a daughter who goes to school with the girls. He saw Bonnie leaving the Young Farm an hour ago. With Elena." Sheriff Forbes told them.

"But Caroline's with Elena." Stefan said.

"Looks like Bonnie Bennett has a new doppelgänger friend." Damon replied.

"So, how do we find them?"

Stefan took the lead and said, "Well, they must be somewhere in the triangle. My guess is right in the middle."

He circled a building in the middle of the Expression Triangle as Damon asked, "And where exactly might that be?"

"The high school." Ellie supplied. "But what the hell is Bonnie doing with Katherine?"

"What? You're new bestie didn't tell you she was besties with Bonnie too?" Damon sassed.

She rolled her eyes at him before deciding to ignore him. "If they're going there now, we should too. If Silas finds out that Bonnie is dropping the veil now, he's gonna come for her. We need to get to her first." Ellie replied.

Damon and Stefan both nodded. "Let's go. We can take my car." Damon told them. "We'll see you later, Liz." The three were quick to make their way to Damon's car and as they exited the hospital, Ellie was caught off guard with how sharp the wind was. It howled around them, so strong that she stumbled into Stefan. He caught her with ease before they piled into Damon's car.

When they arrived, Elena was walking toward them with a flashlight. "Where's Caroline?" Stefan asked.

"Inside looking for Bonnie." Elena called over the wind. "I think we should split up. Damon and I can look outside while you, Caroline, and Ellie look inside."

Stefan and Damon both shrugged in agreement. "All right. Let me know if you find anything." Stefan replied as he passed Ellie a flashlight, "Come on, Ellie, let's go." She said nothing to Elena as she walked by. She couldn't even think of anything to say that wouldn't end up causing a problem. So she followed Stefan silently as they headed inside. The energy inside the school felt like it was buzzing. Odd and overwhelming and unnatural the further inside they went. She stayed close to Stefan and watched over her shoulder, feeling like Silas was going to pop up out of nowhere. As they walked into the cafeteria, they came across Caroline. "Hey, there you are. Any luck?"

"I searched the whole school. She should be here." Caroline replied. When something sounded like it fell just out of their sight, Caroline whipped around and asked, "What was that?" Stefan took the lead and as they headed toward the sound.

They walked into the freezer and opened up a door, only to find the ice inside. "Hmm. Ice is melting."

"It just doesn't make any sense." Caroline said in frustration.

Ellie reached out and squeezed her hand to give her comfort. "It's ok, Care. We'll find her."

"But this is the center of the triangle. If she's gonna do the spell, she has to do it here. This is where they should be." Caroline replied.

"Actually, I think we're in the right place. Just the wrong elevation." Stefan suggested. "Do either of you know where the basement is?" Both girls shook their heads. Neither of them had ever had a reason to go into the basement to begin with. "I'll call Damon and see if either he knows or if Elena does." They followed behind him as he called Damon. "Well where's the basement?" Ellie couldn't hear what they said before Stefan replied, "Alright, I'll meet you there."

"Do you think Silas is gonna get to Bonnie before we find her?" Ellie asked worriedly.

"Hopefully not." Caroline said.

As they made their way through the tunnels, Stefan asked, "Can you sense Bonnie at all?"

Ellie's magic flared out around her, but there was too much energy to truly focus on what was happening. "No, the Expression Triangle is drowning everything else out. I can't get a lock on anything specific." She replied with a huff.

They kept going for a few more minutes before the sudden sound of Bonnie's scream pointed them in the right direction. "Bonnie! Bonnie, what happened?" Stefan called as they dropped down next to her.

"Katherine!" Bonnie gasped. "Find Katherine. We're linked."

"Then unlink her." Caroline instructed. "You guys go. I'll stay with Bonnie."

"You're gonna be ok, Bon. we're gonna find Katherine." Ellie said as she and Stefan shot up. "Come on, we've gotta hurry." The duo rushed off, flying down the tunnels looking for Katherine and Elena.

"Goodbye, Katherine." They heard Elena say. Stefan shot forward, tackling Elena and knocking the stake out of her hand. "Stefan!"

"Thanks for the save, handsome." Katherine drawled.

"Get the hell out of here before I kill you myself." He retorted.

"Really? I'm your biggest problem right now?" She sassed before walking out of the room.

Ellie practically threw herself at the vampire as she hugged her tightly. "Are you ok?" Ellie asked worriedly as she looked her over.

Katherine rolled her eyes but patted Ellie's arm reassuringly. "I'm fine, gorgeous. If Klaus Mikaelson can't kill me, it's gonna take more than a little bitchy wanna be vampire to get the job done." She spared an unimpressed glance at where Elena was still on the ground before pressing a kiss to Ellie's cheek. "See you later, princess."

"How could you save her?" Elena demanded as she ripped her arm away from Stefan. "She was as good as dead."

"Yeah, and so was Bonnie." Stefan shot back. "Bonnie used a spell to link herself to Katherine, so, if you killed her, Bonnie would be dead, too."

"How do you know that?" Elena asked.

"Because I saw her, Elena. You almost killed your best friend."

Elena shook her best friend in disbelief. "I don't believe you."

"Really?"

"You never wanted me to kill Katherine. Why are you protecting her, Stefan?"

Stefan straightened up slightly as he told her, "Listen to yourself. Your rage is making you crazy."

"Do you still have feelings for her?"

Ellie's eyes shot wide in surprise. "What would it even matter if he did?" She asked.

He ignored them both and replied, "This isn't even about Katherine. This is about Jeremy." Ellie flinched at the name. "What? You think that killing her will take all that pain away? It won't."

"Oh, but beating up cinder blocks will?"

"No. It's a distraction. Just like killing Katherine, just like turning your emotions off. The truth is, there are no shortcuts. You are a vampire, Elena. Loss is part of the deal. Look, I've been alive for one hundred and sixty-three years. I have lost more loved ones than I can count and it hurts me every single time." He explained.

"So there's no hope. You're saying I'm hopeless."

Ellie rolled her eyes at Elena's dramatics. "No. I'm saying you have to face your grief. But you don't have to do it alone. I can help you." Stefan replied.

"Oh, of course you can. God, Stefan, always trying to help and your concern for me is just like…"

"You're transferring your rage onto me. That's good." Stefan encouraged.

"I don't need to transfer anything. I can hate two people just fine." Elena corrected.

She tried to walk away but Stefan reached out for her arm and softly said, "Hey."

Elena's punch came swiftly and his head shot to the side at the impact. "Just like the cinder block." Elena said nastily. "Nothing."

As Elena turned to walk off, Ellie's slap came as an even bigger surprise. The sound echoing in the tunnels and her nails sharp enough to draw blood from Elena's cheek from the force. "That's enough, Elena." Ellie said in warning. "I've put up with a lot of your bullshit, but I will not stand there and watch you treat Stefan like shit. Because he has literally no reason to help you. You've done nothing but act like a bitch, even before your humanity was off. Fuck, you were acting like a bitch to him even before you were a vampire."

"Ellie-"

"Don't 'Ellie' me, Stefan." She snapped before turning back to Elena. "You cheated on him, with his brother, who you previously claimed to hate and after bitching about how you never wanted to be a vampire, he did nothing but try and find ways to best help you through it. And how did you repay him? By keeping secrets and going to Damon for help even though you shit talked Damon about how bad of a vampire and an example he was."

"You have no idea what it's like to be in my position Ellie." Ellie shot back.

"He was my brother too god damn it!" Ellie shrieked. "Fucking christ Elena, I needed you!" Elena actually recoiled in surprise. "Yes, I'm angry at you and I've been angry at you for a while but he was my brother too! Jenna and I lost him too! And we didn't get to say goodbye and by the time he even got back here his body was cold."

Stefan looked like he was ready to catch Ellie if she fell apart. "It's different Ellie, I'm a vampire. The feelings are more intense."

"And you just turned them off and disregarded what Jenna and I needed. All you thought about was yourself. And instead of us getting to grieve properly, we were once again preoccupied by having to take care of helpless Elena. Everything was once again all about you. Does it really just not process to you that what you're doing is hurting everyone else in the process? Can you really not get your head out of your ass for five seconds to think about literally anyone else?"

"That's not fair, Ellie!" Elena snapped back. "It's my life that's been destroyed. I'm the one that doesn't get to have a family of her own or grow old or do any of the things that I wanted to do."

As Ellie's eyes watered, Stefan stepped around Elena to reach out to the witch. Their hands laced together as Ellie replied, "Oh it's your life that's destroyed Elena? You think you're the only one that suffered. What about Tyler's life? Is his life not as fucked as yours? Or Caroline? What about her? Both of their lives, all their plans, were shattered because of you. You might not have been the one to turn them yourself, but you were the one that caused Katherine to feel like she needed to send a message. Caroline wanted to be a mom too, Elena. She wanted us to raise our kids together. She wanted me to be the godmother of her kids. Does she not matter?"

"I never said that she didn't matter."

"But did you ever once think about how many things have been destroyed, how many lives shattered because of you? God, how many times do I have to beg for you to understand what you've done? Do you really not get it?" When Elena didn't respond, Ellie sighed in resignation. "That's a no then. I get it, Elena. You never wanted to be a vampire, I get it. But these are the consequences of your actions. All of this happened because you decided to wake up Esther. That was the catalyst that led to you getting turned. If this was really such a horrible fate, you should have just let yourself die a human." It felt vicious to say, but it was true. "But at this rate, when you have no one left but yourself, there won't be anyone to push the blame onto. It'll just be you."

Elena stormed off angrily, her shoulder colliding with Ellie's as she passed. Stefan made no move to stop her. Instead, his hand cupped Ellie's cheek, looking over her worriedly. "Ellie, are you ok?"

"Nope." She admitted easily as she stepped into his arms. "I'm sorry she's acting like that."

Stefan hugged her tightly. "It's not your fault. Thanks for being a good friend. Is Katherine ok?"

"She's Katherine. Of course she is." Ellie replied before she pulled away from Stefan.

"I should go find Elena, make sure she doesn't do anything she regrets."

"She's done plenty that she should regret." Ellie shot back. "You don't owe her anything."

He gave her a soft smile before he pressed a kiss to her temple. "I should go find Elena." He didn't have a better response than that. It was most likely true. He really didn't owe Elena anything, but he still couldn't help the part of himself that wanted to protect her.

Ellie nodded in understanding, and then he was gone. She took a moment to collect herself before she turned to leave the room as well. A familiar face was what stopped her in her tracks. "Mom?" The word was out of her mouth before she could have stopped it.

Isobel stood before her and Ellie was in her arms in an instant. "My sweet girl." Isobel said softly. Ellie's heart ached, both for Isobel and her other mother as well. "You're ok." She tried to not react to being called 'mom' by one of her baby girls. It wasn't what Ellie needed. She needed comfort and there was always going to be something unique about being safe in a mother's arms, even if they didn't get the time together that they both deserved.

"No, I'm not." Ellie whispered.

Isobel pulled back slightly to cup Ellie's face in her hands. "I've been watching you baby, I know what happened. You don't have to explain." She replied.

Ellie felt like throwing up. "I should have known that he wasn't Elijah."

"Silas is two thousand years old, Ellie. He's good at his tricks. But it's ok now." Isobel assured her. A momentary rush of fear rushed through Ellie at the thought that it was Silas holding her now. Her paranoia was thick, but she was so tired.

"What are you talking about?" Ellie asked.

"Bonnie used Expression magic to turn Silas to stone. He can't hurt you anymore." Isobel explained gently.

Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. "He's gone?" She asked shakily. Was it a lie? She didn't know. How could she know? She no longer knew if she could trust her own judgment.

"He's gone." Isobel confirmed and she caught Ellie as her knees gave out. "He can't hurt you again." Ellie's sobs were unsurprising to Isobel as she held the witch tightly. "You're safe." She whispered soothing words in Ellie's ear as she cried. Unsurprisingly, Luka and Dr. Martin made their way into the room, and crouched down next to Ellie as she shook. It was with their presence that she really let her guard down. Silas couldn't be three people at once.

As his hand took hers, Ellie pulled away from Isobel and looked up with surprise as she fully registered their presence. "Luka!" Instead of pain this time, it was relief. She tackled the other witch with her hug and held onto him tightly.

He laughed freely as he held onto her just as strongly. "Damn, I missed you too, Ellie." He joked. "Careful or you're gonna squeeze me to death."

Her tears dried as she gave him an unimpressed look. "You're hilarious." She replied, though she didn't let him go.

"You've gotten cozy with Elijah and his family I see." He teased, though he was grinning to let her know that it was ok. "He's been treating you right, hasn't he? I'll mess him up if he hasn't. What's he gonna do? Kill me?"

Ellie was grinning at his jokes as she tucked herself under his arm. "How long do we have?" She asked curiously.

"Until Bonnie brings the veil back up." Dr. Martin replied. "I'm not sure how long that is. But we shouldn't waste the time that we have."

The three of them helped Ellie up and she caught the look of Luka's face. "What is it?"

"Kol Mikaelson." He confessed. "He's pissed, Ellie. And if he can't get to Jeremy…"

"He's gonna go for Elena." She deduced. "Fantastic." She took a moment to look at them before she said, "But I don't want to leave you guys."

Dr. Martin replied, "We'll still be around, Ellie. But there's other people that you deserve to see too."

She was grateful that he didn't say Alaric and Jeremy by name, though they all knew that that's who he meant. "We'll keep an eye on everything to try and make sure that no one else is coming after any of you." Luka offered. "Go spend time with your family, El. We'll make sure you're safe."

"Thank you." She said sincerely. It felt overwhelming to see them again, but they somehow seemed to be a bit more at peace than they'd been before and that gave her more comfort than she'd even known she needed. She hugged the three of them again before she took off to find the others.

As she made her way out of the tunnels, her phone began to ring. "Ellie, where are you?" Rebekah asked.

Her near frantic tone put Ellie on edge immediately. "I just got out of the tunnels. What's going on? Are you ok?"

"Kol was here." Rebekah replied. "He's pissed. You need to be careful."

"Have you told Klaus and Elijah?" Ellie asked.

"No. You were the first person that I called. I'll call Nik and Elijah. I just wanted you to know what was coming." Rebekah explained.

Ellie felt overwhelmed as she tried to search out with her magic to look out for Kol or to find Jeremy, but with the veil down everything just felt… alive. "Ok. Ok, you call them and I'll find Kol. When you call them, make sure to tell Klaus that Silas is gone."

"Silas is gone?" Rebekah said in disbelief. "Wait, how? What happened?"

"Bonnie used Expression to turn Silas into stone. So long as he doesn't get any more blood, he's gone." Ellie replied.

"Bloody hell." Ellie could hear Rebekah as she laughed in shock. "That's bloody fantastic. Good for the little witch. I might have to buy her a drink, or maybe a bar."

Ellie grinned softly. "I'll make sure to tell her that." After the call ended, she swore under her breath as she realized that she had arrived with Stefan and Damon, meaning that she couldn't leave without Damon. She turned and headed toward where they'd parked originally before calling Damon. The sound of a phone ringing caught her attention and she turned to see Damon carrying what seemed to be a solid rock form of Silas. She only noticed it for a second before her focus locked onto Alaric, and she took off running. "Ric!"

He caught her with ease as she launched herself into his arms and held her tightly. "Ellie!" He replied.

"You're ok!"

"Of course I'm ok." Alaric assured her. Damon took a hold of Silas' body himself and continued carrying him to the car to give the two of them a moment.

Her eyes were starting to water, yet again, as her brain started to process that he was actually in front of her. "I've missed you so much." She told him as she held his hands tightly.

"I've missed you too, kiddo. But kid, you know you can't be mad at Elena forever." Alaric said gently.

She pulled her hands away as she tried to swallow her frustration. "I know you wanna play peacemaker and have us be a happy family and I love you for that Ric, but she's the reason you and Jeremy are dead." Ellie replied.

"Ellie…"

"No. No, Ric you can't stand there and tell me that she's not when we all know it's true. Just because no one wants to say that to her because they don't want to hurt her fragile feelings doesn't make it any less true." Ellie replied.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do." Alaric said after a moment of silence. "I just want you to be happy. No matter how you get that happiness."

Ellie smiled at him softly. "I'll try."

"Cute reunion and all, but Kol's going after Elena and we need to get a move on." Damon replied.


When they arrived in the woods, the tension had settled and Ellie settled in between Stefan and Damon. "You need to get rid of Silas." Bonnie instructed.

"Well, there's a slight problem, Medusa." Damon replied. "Even though you turned him into stone, if he gets one more drop of blood, he's back to his old mind tricks."

"All right, so let's do what we should have done to Klaus. Let's drop his body in the middle of the ocean." Stefan suggested.

"That's the safest option, I'd think." Ellie agreed.

"Bonnie…" Elena's voice interrupted the conversation. "I don't know what to say."

Bonnie stepped toward her and replied, "You don't have to say anything."

"But I was so horrible to you." Elena reminded her.

"You weren't you. I know what that's like." Bonnie corrected. "I wasn't me for a long time, but we can talk about that later. You got some catching up to do."

As Jeremy approached, both Damon and Stefan's hands shot out to steady Ellie when her heartbeat became erratic. "Thank you, Bonnie." Just hearing Jeremy's voice had her throat in knots. To her surprise, it was Damon's hand that she had a death grip on, but he made no move to stop her.

"I'll give you guys as much time as I can…" Bonnie said before Jeremy engulfed her in a hug. "But I have to go put the veil back up."

Bonnie walked away slowly as Stefan added, "I should make sure Kol's body is somewhere safe until the veil goes back up."

He released Ellie, but she didn't let go of Damon as she stared at Jeremy in a state of shock. "Stefan, wait." Elena said softly.

She was wringing her hands together, but Stefan simply told her, "Welcome back."

"There isn't enough time."

"It'll never be enough time." Damon replied.

"Damon, I'm sorry."

"Stop." Damon insisted. "The most important thing right now is Jeremy and saying goodbye." To Ellie's surprise, Damon turned to her and looked at her sincerely. "Both of you need the chance to say goodbye." He tilted his head toward Jeremy and said, "Don't waste your time in shock. You'll regret it later. Go." With a small push from Damon, she was stumbling toward Jeremy and paused before him.

She carefully reached up to brush her hand across the hair on his forehead. Jeremy waited patiently as she reached for him hesitantly before she became slightly more frantic. "I'm here, Ellie." He said finally and the dam broke. She cried more aggressively than she had when she'd seen Luka and Dr. Martin the first time after they'd died.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Ellie whispered as she clung to him. "I should have gone with you guys, I should have kept you safe."

"Ellie, how could you have known?" Jeremy asked softly.

"I should have listened to Kol. I knew something was wrong from how scared he was. I should have listened. I should have kept you safe." Ellie replied. "It's my job. It's always been my job and I failed."

"You didn't fail, Ellie. You did your best. It was never your fault." Jeremy said as he held her. The rage she felt toward Elena was clawing at her throat, begging to escape. She could taste the violence on her tongue, dangerous and volatile but she shoved it back down her throat forcefully.

"We need to go to Jenna." Ellie said frantically. "We need to go." It felt like a whirlwind of action as they rushed to the house. "Jenna! Jenna!" Ellie was basically screaming as she slung the door open.

"Ellie, what's wrong?" Jenna called back from upstairs. She froze at the top of the stairs, cup and plate in hand from her dinner. It took all of three seconds for her to lock onto Jeremy before her. Ellie wasn't sure if it was a scream or a sob or both that tore through Jenna's throat as she practically flew down the stairs. The number of steps she missed was impressive, but her stride wasn't broken as she wrapped Jeremy up and just held on. "How?"

Jenna was shaking as pulled back to look at him. "Bonnie dropped the veil and Silas is gone. She's giving us time before she puts the veil back up." Ellie explained.

It was clearly a lot of information to process for Jenna, who simply pulled them close and held them there. "You're here." Jenna whispered.

"I'm here." Jeremy confirmed. For a moment, with the three teenagers wrapped up in Jenna's arms, Ellie could swallow the rage. Until the veil went back up, she would hold the violence back with a death grip, strangling it into obedience. She would not allow Elena to cost her anymore time with Jeremy. Not when they only had these few precious moments until Bonnie put the veil back in place.


Author's Note:

I'm back! I am so so SO sorry for being gone so long. It was never my intention, but I've just gotten into my program and it's been kicking my butt a bit and I was back to back sick for a while. I've got a few chapters pre-prepared and I'm going to try and keep the updates back on regular schedule but I'll let you know as things go along. I've missed you guys, and I hope you guys still enjoy the story. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments!

To Daddy's LiL HeartBreaker: She really does need a vacation, but I'm still sick of Elena. I'm also developing a bit of fondness for Ellie and Damon, they have potential to be cute besties. And not quite a punch, but she did get in a hell of a slap. It wouldn't surprise me if Ellie ended up hurt from her trauma though.

To Guest(1): Oh Elena will definitely end up with consequences. Yeah, the show never really gave her punishment for what she did. I don't plan on letting her get away without a mark to show for it.

To Guest(2): I see where you get your stance from, and it's not promised that she will or won't. However, Ellie, like Caroline always wanted to kids but who knows what will happen.

To BecomingFearless1F: Thank you so much, helping shape those opinions of yours are an honor. And yes, I'm still trying to get back in the groove after such aggressive writers block.

To chelsnichole12: I also originally loved Elena, but as I've gotten older I've seen how messed up a lot of what she did was.

To NaRuKo-InuTaiSHo-XD: Thank you, I hope you enjoy!

To Guest(3): Yeah, Silas was messed up for that, but don't worry, I love Kat too much to let her die. Elijah really just needs to steal Ellie away, but I do think Ellie's growing more into her own and I do think Stefan and Damon have over indulged her.

To brigitm28: Honestly no-humanity Elena is the worst. And yes, everything that's been done to Ellie does linger in the back of her mind. She didn't forget, she just swallows a lot of her problems. And yes, she's way stronger than she knows. I just want Ellie to get to have some fun honestly.

To : I do think Silas has some sort of connection to Ellie, though I don't know why. And don't apologize, I use google translate whenever someone comments in another language to try and communicate so don't sweat it!

To FreakingLEM: I think Elijah would be a cute father, I mean we all saw how he was when Marcel was growing up and then with Hope. Who knows how it would happen though. Jenna and Klaus are the surprise duo I didn't know we needed. Her and Cami would be amazing. We've still got quite a while before Alaric comes back to life, so we'll see.

To LucifersAlleyCat: She does get used a lot, but I think that would be something that could really help her bond with Davina. Klaus is dramatic, but I think Ellie is one of the few people he couldn't be mad at forever.

To Guest(4): Ellie and Damon are kind of fun together, maybe headbutting besties? And let's be real, Ellie would never let Elena kill Kat.

To skyellebaby: I've missed writing this story! And same, Damon progressively got better as the seasons went on. I think Stefan is going to get to a point where Ellie means more to him than Elena and I can't wait. Elena could definitely benefit with therapy cause I am so sick of her.

To Qewbix: Damon and Ellie are fun together, and agreed I was worried for Ellie. Stefan's definitely starting to see a bit clearer.

To Hoppy854: The Originals' hate toward Katherine is a bit dumb in my opinion, especially when they've forgiven Elena for so much worse, so that will probably end up changed. They're both doppelgangers.

To Guest(5): Agreed, like so much has happened to all of them because of her, but it's Matt that gets her to flip it?

To Aryabloodlust: Yeah, stuff is really building up. And I'm so sorry for being gone so long but I'm back now.

To UnknownReaderHasJoined: Oh wow, did you read the Charmed one? What did you think? I wrote that when I was a lot younger. Also I think I've written at some point where they said I love you, I just don't remember which one. Oh yeah, I highly doubt Damon and Elena will be endgame. A lovely wedding would be sweet. Lol, Ellie freaking out and blowing up a spider would be funny. I actually don't know if he saw her in uniform. Were Phoebe and Cole my exact inspiration... maybe. I had never even thought about her birthing Lizzie and Josie. Maybe not, because I'm just soft for Care being a mom. She will graduate before she leaves Mystic Falls, don't worry.

To Hoseko: She will, don't worry.

To Jamie Gemini: Yes, she was channeling Ellie.

To Princess Aziza: Agreed, I've read back before and I'm like, I don't even know how I got her from one to the other, and trust me we are very very close to getting to NOLA.

-Madame Magic

Posted: 3/19/22