AN: Get ready for the angst. The song for this chapter is House of Memories by Panic! At The Disco. I know I'm horrible but this will be updated again Monday.
Caroline gets the call and takes Freya with her. She stops by Elena and Elijah who's in her head at the moment.
"I got the call from the coven. I'm taking Freya with me. It's not time yet, but we're close. I'm calling Jeremy and Alaric to come here." Caroline tells them and repeats it a few times.
"Jeremy's going to see us as similar ages to what he should be physically. I'll never get wrinkly with white hair. You never will either. How did you deal with it?" Elena says and Elijah answers.
She knows what Caroline leaving means, Elijah told her. Jeremy's aging is tied to her coma. He hasn't aged too much, and she can't imagine a world without Jeremy. Elijah knows that too, and she'll have to figure that out as well. They've never talked about it, but she's never been apart for Jeremy for very long.
Elijah's lucky in a horrible way, his parents turned almost all of his siblings into vampires. He's never really had to come to terms with living without them, except Henrik. He doesn't speak about Henrik very much, and she respects that. Despite their friendship, there are topics he doesn't touch, and although she thinks they have similar feelings, she's never bothered him like Caroline would about his romantic life. According to Caroline, Elijah's been single for a long time, even before she fell into her coma.
There's a quiet that settles over them after they talk for a few hours, and she asks if she can fill it. It's a song he added to her playlist, he recognizes. It's a few decades old and it's upbeat with melancholy vocals and an easy rhythm. The song grows louder until she's deemed it fills the silence, and she thinks, but doesn't ask Elijah to leave. She likes him being there and while she likes being alone, she doesn't like being lonely. She can feel the beat with every part of her, and she knows Elijah can too. If he asks her to turn it down, she will, but when she opens her eyes to look at him, his are closed. He looks peaceful, and happy. That might be wishful thinking or projecting her feelings on him though, so she moves her head back to the position it was in before and closes her eyes too. The song repeats over and over, but it's a good song and she likes not thinking. It's really nice. Not thinking and having Elijah next to her is even better.
He leaves with a promised return, and she smiles at him and he has hope tugging at his lips. Then he's gone and she plays a different song, slow and mellow with electronic notes. She gets a little happier when she realizes that once she wakes up, she'll never be this lonely again. Even if she never talks to anyone while she's out walking around, there will be other people. Strangers. The thought of them is almost thrilling and amazing.
Klaus joins the betting game with Kol, Rebekah and Freya. Rebekah and Kol are blank slates, having won back what they owed each other, Rebekah has a necklace and earrings of Freya's and Kol wants a certain bottle of vintage whiskey his older brother has. Klaus grins and tells Kol that the bet is on. Rebekah misses her older sister.
They stopped letting Elijah play their betting game when he basically owned everything but them, he played with the numbers to figure out the best bets, and when to stay away.
Once they're done for the day, the Rebekah and his two betting younger brothers invite him to poker. He can't always be in Elena's head, they need space and his siblings need him.
The song Elena played so loudly he could feel it instead of his heartbeat is on loop in his head as he moves his cards and keeps his face composed. He wins the first round with ease. They play for six more rounds and when Kol suggests board games, Klaus says they can play anything but monopoly.
He spends the night in Elena's head. He leaves for a few hours the next day, the same time Rebekah leaves to go shopping. Kol tells Elijah he wants time with Elena, and almost succeeds in messing up Elijah's hair, but he nods and sidesteps Kol. Kol curses as he walks to Elena's room and swears he will get him.
He's talking to her the next morning, and she's playing music quietly when her brow furrows and feels an unfamiliar presence in her mind. She tries to hold onto him but he feels himself get shoved out, and he knows it wasn't Elena's doing. When he listens to hear who's home, he knows it's not anyone nearby. With that knowledge, he tries to return to her mind as quickly as possible. She could be in danger. He says her name and tells her to keep her walls down, and when he manages to reach her mind, the walls are up. There's a note in handwriting he doesn't recognize, that Elena is fine. He doesn't believe that but he can't take her walls down, only she can. With the knowledge that more than one person in her head could prove dangerous, he carefully withdraws and waits.
"Bonnie?" Elena asks, the person in front of her looks so unrecognizable. It has to be Bonnie, she thinks, and the woman waves her hand. It's what Bonnie looked like before they messed with that vengeful witch.
Elena's eyes flood with tears and her friend murmurs that she almost forgot Elena wouldn't recognize her. She apologizes, for everything she can think of. She wanted to grow old and do all of those things they thought they'd do when they were younger, with Elena next to her. That had changed when Elena had turned into a vampire, but Bonnie had foolishly thought maybe they could do that anyway. Elena starts speaking and Bonnie gently cuts her off. They don't have much time. Elena cries that they never had much time. Bonnie tells her that she's using the last of her energy, the last of her magic. She doesn't want to live a few more weeks just to be hooked up to machines for survival and do so knowing she's preventing Elena from living while she lives a life that's not worth living at all.
Elena's crying and her mind palace starts flooding. Bonnie gives her a sage smile and shows her memories, memories she regrets not sharing with Elena, the times she wished she had Elena and Caroline next to her to experience life with her. She was fairly happy, Bonnie says as she hugs Elena for the last time. She wishes her the best, and she tells Elena that one of her only regrets was not being with Jeremy. But she broke it off how she did because she couldn't stand it, and in a perfect world, this never would have happened and she'd be asking Elena to look after her children and whoever else she's leaving behind. But she's not, and she regrets that, but she tells Elena as her eyes fill up with tears, that it's her time to live. Elena opens her mouth to protest and then Bonnie walks out of her mind palace, and she chases after her.
Her mind palace seems so far away, the light is barely visible, and then Bonnie is gone and the darkness swallows her whole.