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Chapter 7

"Why am I here? What do you want with me?" Elena asked, struggling against her restraints.

"My dear girl, I just want to fix you," Esther said as she moved to stand next to the cot Elena was on, "I want you out of my sons' lives. I'm going to kill them once and for all and I would hate for you to get stuck in the middle of it."

"I'm not doing anything wrong!"

Esther tsk'd her, "Elena, two of my sons care for you now. Didn't you realize? Finn is falling in love with you and Elijah has always loved you. You're their weakness."

"You want to use me? For what?" Elena asked fearfully.

"I want to offer them a chance at humanity. To ensure your freedom, they're likely to agree to anything. But you won't go back to them, oh no. Your heart belongs in Mystic Falls. A certain Damon Salvatore I understand."

Elena shook her head, tears threatening to spill from her doe eyes, "Damon's gone. The prison world is going to collapse once the Gemini Coven dies out."

"Do you forget I'm the Original witch?" The blonde tilted her head to the side in slight amusement, "I can rescue your Damon and you both can live eternity together."

"He won't take me back. Not after I left without him."

"He'll forgive you, child. I'm sure of it. He loves you too much not to. And don't you love him?"

"I can't be between them anymore! I'm not Katherine!" Elena screamed, angry tears flooding her eyes, "I can't hurt Stefan anymore. I can't do it."

"Let's just remind you how much you love Damon, shall we?" Esther said soothingly before placing her hand over Elena's head as she let out a scream.

Elena stared at the ceiling, hyper aware of the vampire next to her on the bed. She allowed her arm to travel onto the bed where Damon slowly slipped her hand into his. She looked over at him, eyes wide as she tried to read the emotion on his face, but he just looked back at her with his blue eyes holding more than his usual cockiness. He was vulnerable. He was trying to communicate with her the only way he knew how.

She swung her legs out of bed and quickly left the hotel room, grabbing her sweater on the way. She took a deep breath as she shrugged her sweater on, leaning against a nearby vending machine for support. She wanted to see if Damon was genuine in his feelings for her, but she had Stefan to think about. She couldn't abandon him. She couldn't be Katherine.

Elena sighed as she heard the hotel room door open and close quickly. She felt Damon behind her and she struggled to keep her eyes in front of her. She shook her head slightly, "Don't."

"Why not?" Damon asked, his voice low, "Elena?"

Before she could understand what she was doing, she turned around and ran to him, their mouths colliding in a desperate frenzy. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck. When they kissed, something felt right. She felt as if she were finally complete.

Damon had been her missing piece all along.

They stood outside in the middle of nowhere. Elena smiled at Damon as rain began to fall from the sky with earnest. She laughed as they both became drenched.

"Come on, time to abandon ship," Damon said as he looked from the sky to her.

"No, no, no, wait," she said, shaking her head with a smile, "Just give it a second. It'll clear up."

Damon stared at her in wonder. He couldn't believe how beautiful she was even when she was soaking wet and her chocolate locks were plastered to her skull. He smiled as he pulled her closer to him and kissed her with fervor.

Elena broke the kiss, her lips swollen slightly as her voice became breathy, "Promise me this is forever."

He smiled, looking down at her lips before returning his gaze to her beautiful doe eyes, "I promise."

They smiled at each other and quickly entangled their mouths once more. Elena cradled his face in her hands and refused to let go.

She had found her forever.

"Stop! Please stop…" Elena cried.

Esther smiled down at the young vampire, "Isn't this what you wanted? You wanted to be with him forever."

The witch sent Elena spiraling into more memories, needing her to remember her love for the Salvatore brother. Once her sons were heartbroken, they would agree to whatever deal she had to offer.

"Where is she, Marcellus?" Klaus roared at the younger vampire.

After the fight at the cemetery seemed futile, Klaus had convinced his family to bring Marcel back to the Compound. Klaus wasted no time in bringing out the torture devices. He had Marcel's hands tied tightly together with vervain soaked ropes and every now and then he would stake him in an attempt to get information.

"Why do you care?" Marcel spat at his sire, "You don't want her. Your brothers do."

Klaus cocked his head to the side, "Have you ever seen Elijah get angry? Or Finn for that matter? No?"

"No, but I've seen you angry and how much worse could they be?"

The Original snorted in laughter, "I've never denied to be a ruthless demented bastard. My two elder brothers on the other hand have tried very hard to keep up a noble façade. But they won't hesitate to rip you limb from limb to find out where their girl is."

"Then why are you down here torturing me? Shouldn't they be here instead?"

"Ah, Marcellus," Klaus clasped his hands together as a devious smirk plastered itself across his face, "I won't kill you…yet. But if Finn or Elijah were in charge of this little venture, you would already be dead. In fact, I don't think you would have made it out of the cemetery at all."

"I'm losing my patience," Finn announced as he walked downstairs, his eyes trained on Marcel, "If you don't tell me where she is, I will bleed you out."

"Go ahead," Marcel taunted, "I'm not telling you anything."

"Why are you doing this? What's there to gain for you?"

Marcel smiled a bloody smile, "Why don't you ask your mom. She was the evil genius behind all of this. She came to me."

Finn reached for a stake and flicked it so it landed perfectly in Marcel's chest, "A single centimeter to the right and you'd be dead right now. You'd better thank the Gods that I'm feeling generous."

"Kol! Tell the witch to search for Mother instead," Finn yelled to his youngest brother as he ascended the stairs.

"Our mother? Have you gone mad?" Kol asked incredulously.

"Marcel said that she's the one who has Elena. That would explain why we couldn't track her. But, we can search for Mother."

"Kol, just do as he asks before I rip out your spleen," Elijah gritted through his teeth.

"Perhaps you can exercise that rage on Marcel, brother," Kol quipped as he watched the witch scroll for his mother, "I'm sure Nik wouldn't object to his childe missing a few unnecessary internal organs."

They sat in silence as Kol watched the witch intently.

Finn and Elijah were beside themselves at everything that had unfolded. Esther was evil and she needed to be stopped.

"There! Esther is at the Fleur-de-Lis Sanitarium."

Damon was leaning against the hood of his blue '69 Camaro. He had a bottle of Bourbon in hand as he stood at the Mystic Falls border. He knew there was a chance that he's never see Elena again, but he'd come back. Bonnie would bring him back. He knew she would.

He looks down at his phone as it buzzes. Realizing it's time to put the plan in action, he downs the rest of the bottle and gets in his car. Suddenly the passenger door opens and Elena gets in, staring at him in determination.

"What the hell are you doing?" Damon asks in anger, his blue eyes widening in disbelief.

Elena shrugs slightly as she puts her seatbelt on, "You said to respect your choice and I did. Now, I need you to respect mine."

"Woah, no. No. That's now how this works, Elena. The second we cross that border; you're going to feel everything…you're going to drown all over again. It's going to take you back to the night you died as a human."

She sighed and looked at him with love, "I know what I signed up for, Damon. And I'm all in."

Damon struggles for a moment. He couldn't jeopardize Elena's life, but she had a point. It was her life, her choices.

"What are you waiting for?" Elena asked impatiently, "Drive!"

Damon grinned before he turned the key in the ignition and drove over the border.

"Please, Esther, stop," Elena begged, tears cascading freely down her cheeks, "I don't want to remember anymore. He's gone. He left me."

"I'm sorry, child. I have one more memory for you."

"NO!"

Elena was sitting in the crypt at the cemetery. Her body wanted to collapse from grief. Damon was stuck on the other side and it was going to be destroyed.

Her hysteria was setting in as she looked at the blank space in front of her, "You lied to me."

Damon was destroyed by seeing her fall apart. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and take her in his arms again. He sighed, "Even if I wanted to apologize, you couldn't hear me…so I won't."

Elena wrapped her arms around her stomach, trying to control her sobbing, "Please, don't leave me."

He tried to put her hand on his cheek as he murmured, "I don't have a choice, baby. You are, by far, the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my 173 years on this earth. I get to die knowing that I was loved –not just by anyone– by you, Elena Gilbert. It's my epitome of a fulfilled life. It's never gonna get any better than this. I peaked." He tried to wipe the tears from her face, but it was in vain, "I love you, Elena."

Her body was wracked with sobs. She knew he was here, but she couldn't see him, couldn't feel him. She cried as hard as she could, "Please…please…come back to me."

Damon gave her one last look before he uttered, "Bye."

Elena screamed in anguish. She had known that Damon was there with her, but she had never known what he said, what his goodbye was. She desperately pulled at her restraints, wanting to claw her own skin off in an attempt to ease the pain in her heart.

"Calm down, Elena," Esther said, trying to soothe the hysterical vampire, "Let the pain in. Remember how everything felt with Damon. Break down the walls you've built around yourself."

"Let me go, please!" Elena sobbed, "I can't do this again. I can't. I can't…"

"You're stronger than you think, my dear. You loved him."

Elena shook her head, "No, no, no. I can't love him. He's gone."

Esther focused on the vampire's mind, allowing multiple blood vessels to pop as Elena screamed in pain again. Esther raised her voice above Elena's cries, "You are going to leave New Orleans, you are-"

"MOTHER," Elijah yelled through the sanitarium.

Esther paled slightly, "Leave, Elijah. This doesn't concern you."

Elijah quickly found the room where they were, Finn following closely behind him. His fangs elongated at the sight of Elena being strapped down with tears running down her face.

"Let her go, Mother. She's done nothing wrong," Finn said firmly, "She's innocent in this. Your quarrel is with us."

"My dear boy, she's simply a pawn," Esther explained, "I needed you both here. I have a proposition."

"We'll speak of it once you free Elena," Elijah stated, "She's doesn't deserve this."

"She won't be going home with either of you. Her life in exchange for both of yours," Esther bargained.

"Fine," Elijah agreed quickly, "Now let her go."

Elena broke through her nightmare haze and tried to look at Elijah, "It's not worth it. Please…leave while you can."

"He's already agreed, Elena," Esther gloated, "I suppose you'll be wanting to go home now." She turned to the empty room behind her and called out, "You can come out now."

Finn used her momentary distraction to whoosh forward and break Esther's neck, letting her fall unceremoniously to the ground. Elijah rushed to Elena and undid her restraints, helping her to sit up.

"Are you alright?" Elijah asked as he knelt in front of her, brushing her damp hair back from her face.

"I'm fine," she said, her voice hoarse from all the screaming. She suddenly thought back to Esther's last words, "Who was she talking to?"

Elijah stilled slightly as he heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall. He took a defensive stance in front of Elena as Finn fell into step beside him.

The door swung open and a man with raven hair walked through, his cerulean blue eyes trained on Elena.

Elena's heart nearly gave out as she looked at the man in front of her, "Damon."

Ooh, cliffhanger. Leave a review and tell me what you think!

~Grace