The morning arrived, Elena and Klaus had fell asleep in the middle of the night; she woke up when the light hit her face, she sat up and looked around, she found herself in Klaus' bed, still wearing the clothes she had on last night. She stepped out of bed and into the living quarters, Klaus was sat on the sofa, buried in thought.

"Hey," She said, smiling softly towards him.

"Hey you," He returned her smile, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I don't remember falling asleep in your bed though."

"You didn't, you fell asleep on the sofa, I moved you in there shortly after," He stood from the sofa and walked towards the coffee machine, pouring her a cup.

"Oh yeah, I remember, I fell asleep on you." She took the mug from him when he handed it to her and drank half the cup; she was exhausted, they had spent most of the night talking... Mainly kissing but there was some talking.

"Elena, I just want you to know, I don't have any expectations," He admitted, his voice low, "I know you're unsure of your feelings and I don't want you to feel pressured; regardless of whatever happens between us, I still care about you and your happiness, even if it isn't with me."

"Last night meant a lot to me, I feel incredibly close to you and if I got to go back and do it all over, I'd still want it too happen," She placed her hand on his cheek.

"But?"

"No but, we'll figure it out in time." She kissed him softly on the cheek, "I better go, I need to get out of these clothes and shower. I'll see you later to go over the plan for tonight?"

As she walked away, he grabbed her hand and spun her into him, his lips landing on hers perfectly. "I'll see you later."

-w-

Elena was more confused than ever; she stood in the shower, the water washing over her, whilst she continued to work through her feelings.

After a short while, she stepped out of the shower, dried herself off and threw on a pair of jeans and a tank top; not only was her mind full of conflicted and unexplained feelings, she was also thinking about the ritual tonight, she was terrified off what may happen.

She left her room and made her way to the penthouse, she opened the door and joined them all; they had already spoke through a lot of the plan and had made all the final decisions that needed making.

"Do we know where the ritual is taking place yet?" Asked Klaus.

"Bonnie is working on it as we speak." Elijah responded, "She shouldn't be much longer."

"Sunset is at 8pm tonight, the ritual will most likely begin then," Klaus was worried, Elena could see it in his eyes, no matter how much he tried to hide it, "Once we have the location, we'll be ready."

"I've got it," Bonnie walked into the room holding a map, "It took a lot of magic but I found it; the magic that demon king is using is dark, very few people in the world know how to tap into it and use it, I just channelled it into the locator spell and found where he is."

She lay the map flat on the table and pointed towards where the flame had burnt the location, "At first glance, there isn't anything there but when I googled the location, it's a private cemetery, been there for hundreds of years; my best guess, there's witches buried there, he'll channel they're magic and become even more powerful."

"He's gonna be extremely powerful," Elena stated the obvious, "What if we can't handle it? It's too dangerous."

"We can get through anything," Elijah responded, his eyes looked saddened when he gazed at Elena, she felt her heartbreak all over again; she still wanted to be near him.

"Exactly, brother, we have everything we need and we're stronger as a family." Said Niklaus.

"Then we're ready." Elijah spoke, "Me, Rebekah and Kol will head out there now, begin setting the necessary traps and meet you back here in an hour."

"Be careful," Elena spoke softly, mainly directed at Elijah.

"They need to be careful," Kol interjected, shooting her a kind smile.

"Don't worry too much, Elena, it'll age you." Rebekah smirked, followed by an eye roll as she passed her.

Elijah just nodded his head towards her before departing with his siblings, leaving only her, Bonnie and Klaus.

"Seems like Kol has taken a liken to you." Klaus broke the silence.

"Maybe we should just ask a warlock to perform the mind control curse on her, get her to feed from me and be held captive together, then we'd have no problems at all with your siblings." She chuckled slightly, both Klaus an Bonnie laughing along with her.

"Dysfunctional family or what?" Bonnie said sarcastically.

They continued to engage in a lighthearted conversation; Bonnie had been watching Elena and Klaus closely, she knew her best friend more than anyone and she could see that they had bonded.

"Oh Elena, I almost forgot, I need to show you something in my room," She wasn't subtle but it worked.

"Sure, what is it Bonnie?" She asked before standing from the sofa and following her out of the room; she didn't say anything until they where in the elevator and away from Klaus.

"Are you crazy?" Bonnie exclaimed, "Klaus? Really?"

They opened the door to her suite and hastily entered, the door slamming closed behind them; Elena was lost for words, she didn't want Bonnie to know, the last thing she wanted was for her best friend to think less of her, "What do you mean?"

"Don't lie to me, Elena, I've known you your whole life," She continued to argue, "You can tell me anything, what is going on?"

Elena just dropped onto the chair, her head in her hands, "You don't even know the half of it."

"So tell me, I only want to know if you're okay." She sat next to her and placed her arm around Elena's shoulders, "Do you love him?"

"No," She responded quickly without any thought, "I mean, I don't think so, I'm so confused."

"I'm not surprised, he's Klaus, I'd be confused too."

"Not just that," She sighed, "When I first left Mystic Falls with Elijah and Klaus, well me and Elijah became really close, we spent some time together, slept together and I'm sure it's him I want to be with."

"Elena!" She interrupted, a slight gasp escaping her lips, "So what happened? Why are you all flirty and googly eyed towards Klaus now?"

"Something happened, it was completely out of the blue; we just started getting along and we bonded, he kept saying and doing all the right things and then last night, we kissed" Bonnie listened to her best friend, her facial expressions showing her shock, "It was an amazing kiss, we stayed up all night and I fell asleep with him but we didn't sleep together or anything like that but I before that, I told Elijah and I think we broke up."

"Oh my god, Elena, I had no idea."

"But now, I just miss Elijah more than anything and feel guilty about Klaus."

"So why don't you just tell Klaus?"

"I don't know, something just draws me to him, there's something about him that makes me want more." She shook her head at her own words, she probably sounded crazy, "I didn't want to fully commit to Elijah until I'd explored my feelings for Klaus, it wouldn't be fair to him."

"How did he take it?"

"He was too understanding, said he would wait for me; that confused me more than ever," She pouted her lip and dropped her head on Bonnie's shoulder, "Tell me what to do, Bon?"

"All I can tell you to do is follow your heart, it usually knows best." She hugged her best friend, "I'm always here for you, no matter what or who you choose, just make sure he makes you happy."

Elena nodded her head and sat in silence for a long minute, her heart not telling her much. She shook herself off and stood up, "We better go, we've been away for a while, the others will be back now and we wouldn't want Klaus to send a search party."

They both laughed as they exited the room, making there way back to the penthouse; when they entered, the entire family where there and they had brought an arsenal of weapons; swords, daggers, crossbows and Elena knew this was all for show, they wouldn't use a single one of them.

"I don't know why you bother with the weapons," She said as she walked into the room, her best friend beside her, "You're not gonna use them."

"Yes but they look intimidating," Kol smirked in response.

"Also, you have to pick your weapon," Klaus lead her over to the weapons and held his hand out, "You're not going completely defenceless."

She rolled her eyes and picked up a dagger, she wasn't the flashy type, "This will be fine."

They both shared a kind smiled, there eye contact unbroken, "Well, they should be quaking in there shoes."

They both began laughing again but Bonnie was watching Elijah, she could see how much he was hurting by being away from her, even if he refused to let Elena see it.

"We have an hour until the ritual, we should go." Elijah interrupted them, his brother turned and nodded his head, they all grabbed what they needed and left.

-w-

It was 7:45pm, the daylight had almost completely vanished, the night seeping in; they where close to the cemetery, Bonnie could feel the magic they where channelling already, it was overwhelming, it made her dizzy.

"Are you gonna be okay, Bon?" Elena asked, concern plastered on her face.

"Yeah I'll be fine," She waved her off, "Don't worry about me."

The journey was mostly silent; everyone lost in thought, hoping for the best with the outcome of tonight. They had approached the gates to the cemetery, Rebekah and Kol where already here, they used there speed whilst the others rode in the car with Elena and Bonnie.

Once they parked up, Kol had came to the window of the drivers seat, "They're here."

"How many?" Klaus said.

"At least 20 warlocks, I haven't seen the demon king yet."

They all exited the car, approaching the gates; Elijah broke the chain and pushed it open, they all walked inside, keeping to the shadows; Elijah, Klaus and Elena stuck together whilst the others split from them, part of the plan.

There was a low chanting in the distance and the warlocks where joined in a circle; in the centre was two people, one was wearing priest attire and the other was just a young girl, no older than 20, Elena assumed they where the sacrifices that Bonnie had mentioned, the holy one and the innocent one; all that was missing was the evil one, she was baffled as the ritual couldn't be completed without all 3.

Candles suddenly became lit, the warlocks released there hands and raised there arms, there hands pointed upwards, the chanting became louder and more intense and the clouds began to separate, revealing the full moon, it was large and shining brightly onto them.

The priest was crouched onto his knees holding a cross, praying not to die tonight and the girl looked terrified but she didn't cry, her fear was within; Elena couldn't let them die.

"When can we-?"

"Shh," Klaus placed his finger on her lip. "Not yet, he's not here."

As he removed his finger, Elena shot a glance to Elijah; he was closer to her than she thought, ready to protect her.

Smoke started to arise from the candles, flooding the entire area, the warlocks all knelt down, still chanting loudly and intensely; rain started too fall and the candles went out.

Once the smoke cleared, Elena could see him, a dark figure appearing in the circle between the priest and the girl; he didn't look human, far from it, his face looked charred, it was black and bony, he looked like a skeleton that hadn't fully decomposed. He wore emerald green robes and wore an amulet around his neck, Elena had never seen anything it before, it was in the shape of a star but it was black and suddenly looked as if it had caught fire but it did not burn him.

"It's him." Elijah whispered kneeling down behind Elena and Klaus, "We need to get the priest and the girl, Kol and Rebekah are waiting for my signal, they'll start taking out the warlocks and Bonnie is gonna hold back the demon king for as long as possible, we need to focus on finding the other half of the weapon, it will be here."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing, stay here and try and be safe." Klaus stated, his mind could not be changed.

Elena just nodded her head, she hated that she had to be sidelined, all she wanted to do was help her friends.

Klaus nodded at Elijah and he looked towards Rebekah and Kol, waving his hand slightly. Before Elena knew it, they had appeared behind the monks, Kol had snapped one of his necks and Rebekah ripped out another's heart. It had begun.

Elijah and Klaus had left Elena's side and appeared with there siblings, Elena couldn't stop watching as they tore through as many warlocks as they could.

The demon king couldn't be reached, there was a protective barrier around him, he didn't even flinch at the sight of the originals, he just continued his spell, Klaus and Elijah where trying to force there way through the barrier but it would not break.

Four warlocks had joined hands and levitated them in the air, all 4 originals couldn't move, an already worried Elena began to panic, she felt so powerless. She couldn't watch them die, she just couldn't.

Bonnie suddenly emerged from the trees, an amulet of some kind around her neck, it was a symbol Elena had never seen before; she began casting a spell so powerful that even the demon king broke his concentration to look at her for a long moment, a growl escaping his lips. The warlocks tried to fight her but they couldn't, she was too strong; the originals fell to the ground, the spell broken, they instantly killed the warlocks that enchanted them.

The demon king finished his chant and took a dagger from behind his belt, he lifted the priest into the air using magic and spoke something in the language that they did not recognise and sliced the throat of the priest, he bled out onto the ground instantly. Once a single drop of blood hit the grass, the ground began to shake, indicating the ritual had begun and it couldn't be stopped now.

Elena gasped at the violent sight, tears escaping her eyes, it was all too much for her. More warlocks kept appearing and they where severely outnumbered, they where taking hits and they where losing, Bonnie could stop them from attacking long enough for the siblings to kill them but more came and she was overwhelmed, Elena could see the blood trickling from her nose.

The ground shook harder, as the demon king stood in front of the girl, the innocent one, grabbed her by the neck and raised her upwards, his hand forced its way into her chest and he ripped it from her, her body went limp. He took her heart and placed it into a large brass bowl located in the centre, he waved his hand, causing a fire to erupt in the bowl and burn her heart; a heavy rain began to fall over them, thunder erupting from the sky and the air became cold and thin.

"No!" Klaus screamed, as he became over run with warlocks, he knew this wasn't going to end well, they had already lost.

She watched as Bonnie fell to her knees, the magic becoming to much for her and she fell unconscious; Rebekah's neck had been broken, she lay on the ground, completely powerless, Klaus was overrun and Elijah had been pinned to the ground by magic.

Kol was the only one left on his feet; he used all his strength to run through the warlocks and snap the neck of the one that was holding Elijah, the two brothers ran towards Klaus, dealing with several of them. Kol had appeared next to Rebekah, removing her body from the scene and hid her behind a few trees a fair distance away.

They where too busy fighting that Elijah hadn't seen a warlock behind him, Elena didn't think, she just ran towards him; she took the dagger she was given by Klaus and ran as fast as she could; as she neared him, she could see the warlock raising his hand, mouthing a spell behind his back, she held the dagger and ran past Elijah, he spun on his heel and saw her push the knife into his heart.

"Elena.." They where completely drenched, the rain had soaked through all of there clothes and she was losing her balance because the ground was quaking. "Thank you."

Kol returned to the scene, standing beside Klaus and fighting the remaining warlocks; they where actually enjoying themselves somewhat, sharing quips at how they don't have any good battles anymore and how they miss the good old days.

The demon king needed one last sacrifice, something none of them had seen coming; he stepped out of the barrier, holding a dagger that Elena hadn't seen before, the handle was made of bone and the dagger was curved, a green flame radiated from it and no-one saw him stand behind Elijah and plunge the blade into his back; the smile Elijah had on his face towards Elena had gone.

"No!" Elena screamed, she held onto his waist, trying to keep him up but he fell, she went down with him and landed on her knees; she leaned over him, her hands caressing his face, "No, no, no, Elijah, please no."

He couldn't speak, Elena was distraught, tears streamed her face as she held onto him, "Elijah, don't, stay with me."

She placed her lips on his and kissed him as hard as she could; in his weak state, Elijah returned her kiss and pressed his hand against her back, "Don't go, please, Elijah."

"It's okay, Elena," Everytime he tried to speak, a painful cough would erupt from his chest but he needed to say one last thing, something he couldn't die without saying first, "I love you."

She cried as she heard those words, the words that made her heart jump through her chest; in this moment, all her confusion had gone, she didn't have a doubt in her mind that Elijah was the one she needed to be with, "I love you, I need to tell you this everyday for the rest of our lives, please don't go."

"The blade..." He coughed once again whilst he tried to tilt onto his side, using Elena for support, "Take it out."

"I can't..." Her voice was broken and full of dread.

"You have too." She obliged, she wrapped her fingers around the handle and used all of her strength to rip it from his back, he screamed out in pain and remained still on the floor, nestled into her embrace.

The demon king was suddenly back behind the barrier, he turned to face Klaus; the hybrid had been distracted by Elena and Elijah, he knew now why she was holding back from him, he wasn't the one she truly loved. He was lifted from the ground and made to levitate by the demon king, he was screaming out in pain as he chanted a spell that made his bones break over and over again.

Rebekah emerged from the darkness, using her speed to appear in front of Klaus, she jumped from the ground and hovered in front of him, trying to pull him down but she couldn't move him, the demon king had waved his hand towards her and she flew back into a tree, she growled on impact and used her speed to run into the barrier, she still couldn't break it. The spell he performed on her made blood flood her throat, she was on her knees, choking on the blood that wouldn't stop spilling.

The demon king left the barrier one more time; he had his hands around the amulet around his neck and he channelled a dark magic, lightening struck into the amulet and he focused it towards Kol.

He screamed out in pain as he was levitated into the air, lightening striking him repeatedly; the demon king moved him inside the barrier, intending to sacrifice him.

Elijah couldn't move, Rebekah couldn't breathe and Klaus couldn't break from the spell.

The evil one that cannot die.

"No!" Elena stood from her feet and ran towards the barrier.

"Elena!" Elijah screamed after her.

Elena was banging her fists against the barrier, anything she could do to break him free but she was powerless.

Kol looked at his siblings, he could see the anguish they where in, tears escaped there eyes as they watched him. The lightening stopped and he began chanting again; Kol only smiled kindly towards his family, he knew this was his end; suddenly a purple fire erupted from the brass bowl in the centre and completely covered him, his skin burning as he screamed out, he began to turn to ash and he was gone.

"No!" They all screamed out.

The barrier lifted and the demon king exposed; he saw Elena and approached her, before she had the chance to run, he had gripped her neck and lifted her, she grabbed onto his charred hand and tried to pull them away, she kicked her legs forcefully as she tried to break free but she was unsuccessful.

Elijah screamed out, he used every ounce of strength and energy he had to pull himself onto his feet, he picked up the blade that was once in his back and threw it forcefully towards the demon king, he blocked it but it gave him the chance to use his speed and appear behind him, he wrapped his arm around his neck and squeezed has hard as he could, Elena fell to the ground when he released her.

He disappeared completely from Elijah's grip and he was gone. Elijah was instantly at Elena's side; she held onto her throat, coughing.

All the magic suddenly stopped and Klaus and Rebekah were suddenly free, they sped towards the centre where Kol was killed; Rebekah was distraught, tears streaming down her face. Klaus was enraged, he fell to his knees and he too cried for his lost brother.

Elena wrapped her arms around Elijah and he leaned into her, he saw comfort in her embrace but nothing could stop the pain of Kol being dead.

Klaus stood onto his feet and walked towards his siblings, "We have to go, now!"

"I can't," Rebekah could barely speak. "Not without him."

"He's gone, Rebekah, we have to leave now, before they come back." Klaus sped of into the distance to find Bonnie, he picked her body from the ground and carried her to the centre to meet with his siblings.

"We have to go now!" He yelled before using his speed to exit the cemetery.

Rebekah stood from the ground, tears still escaping as she too vanished.

"Elijah, we have to go," They both stood from the ground, completely locked onto each other in a long embrace; he held onto her and they disappeared into the night.