Elena sits on her bed, the lights off and the curtains drawn. She takes a shot of tequila straight from the bottle, hoping that it'll help her ignore the itch in her gums and her parched throat.

It doesn't.

She can't stop thinking about blood.

The curtains flutter, and suddenly there is a figure standing in front of her window that wasn't there before. Elena squints, and the figure comes into focus.

"What are you doing here?" she asks Elijah, not moving from the bed as she throws back another shot of tequila. Elijah doesn't respond – he's too busy staring at her face, examining her every movement. Elena just glares at him and takes another shot.

"You didn't survive the car accident," Elijah finally says, his tone sad but unsurprised.

Elena scoffs. "It wasn't an iaccident/i," she points out, just to see him wince. Good. He should wince. He should feel ashamed.

Elena trusted Elijah. Not only did she agree to another deal with him, but she told him where she was. That she and Matt were driving back to town.

And yet again, her trust was misplaced: he passed that information to Rebekah, and Rebekah used it to kill Elena. She almost killed Matt, too.

Now, because of that misplaced trust, Elena has to decide between becoming a vampire, and dying for good. Being a monster, or leaving her little brother all alone in the world.

"I apologize for my sister," Elijah tells her, his tone stilted. "She had just watched Niklaus die, and…"

"Stop it!" Elena yells at him, throwing the bottle of tequila in her anger.

She immediately regrets it as the bottle shatters all over her floor, bits of glass scattering everywhere and liquid seeping into the hardwood. She has no impulse control like this. How can Elena possibly complete the transition, when she knows that she'll be putting everyone around her in danger, constantly craving their blood? (Jeremy, and Bonnie, and Matt, reduced to nothing more than blood bags on legs in her hunger?)

And now Elena doesn't have anything to drink to distract her from the burn in the back of her throat. But at least Elijah has stopped trying to apologize for Rebekah imurdering/i her. He just stares now, as if uncertain what to do next.

Elena knows iexactly/i what Elijah can do next.

"You can go," Elena tells him. "You have no obligation here. Klaus is dead, Ric is dead, and soon, I'll be dead too."

A beat.

"You're not planning to complete the transition," Elijah murmurs, more statement than question. Elena doesn't answer him. She owes him no explanation. Elijah looks unhappy with her decision, but unsurprised; she told him before that she didn't want to be a vampire.

A blink, and Elijah is looming in front of her. He reaches down, and gently brushes Elena's hair behind her ear. Elena looks up at him, meeting that dark gaze for what is perhaps the last time.

"For what it's worth," Elijah utters, so quietly Elena can barely hear him. "You were many things, Elena Gilbert, but never an obligation. It will be a tragedy for the world to lose your light." A brush against her forehead, so quickly Elena barely feels it.

Elena thinks about her response. She knows there are words she could speak, to help ease his guilt. "Good-bye," is all she says. A blink, and her curtains flutter again.

Elijah is gone.