Damon struggled against the chains restraining him for about the hundredth time. He'd woken up hours ago like this with no one else around. He knew the originals were doing something to Elena while they had him like this. He knew coming here was a terrible idea. He never should've let Bonnie talk him into it. Who knew what crap they were putting Elena through right now. He had to get to her before it was too late.

"Let me out!" Damon screamed as he continued to struggle.

"Calm down," Stefan said as came into view.

"Get me the hell out of this, Stefan! How could you let them do this?!" Damon asked angrily.

"Exactly how did you think I was going to stop original vampires from doing what they wanted?" Stefan asked. Of course, it didn't matter. He wouldn't have stopped it if he could've. It wasn't his choice or Damon's. It was Elena's. Besides, it worked out for her. No, being a vampire again wasn't ideal, but it was better than being in a coma for the next sixty or so years.

"Did you even try, brother. No, otherwise you'd have been down here with me," Damon said.

"And who exactly would that have helped?" Stefan asked.

"What did they do to her?" Damon demanded to know.

"Elena's fine, Damon. Other than the fact that your screaming is bothering her," Stefan said.

"She's awake?" Damon asked in surprise. He should've been able to hear her if that was the case, but he supposed he hadn't stopped yelling long enough to listen for her.

"Yeah," Stefan said before walking over and releasing Damon's hands from the chains. "Freya had to do a couple of spells that haven't been done before, but Elena made it. She had to turn her back though. It was the only to guarantee she'd survive Kai's curse.

Damon's eyes darkened again he started yelling again. "You turned her back into a vampire?!"

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Elena remained by Elijah's side, holding his hand. It was almost torture to do so. She could feel his hunger so deeply, as if it was coming from her. She felt his pain as well. However, she refused to let go. Elijah was like this because of her. He was willing to risk his own health to wake her up. She would not leave him alone. "Elijah, I don't know if you can hear me. I'm hoping that you can at least feel me, like I can feel you. Hopefully that gives you a measure of comfort if you can. I'm never going to be able to repay you for this. I'm sorry. I had no idea this would happen to you. I wouldn't have agreed if I'd known." She'd thought she was the only one at risk. She didn't know that Freya's spells would leave him in this sort of state.

"He was aware of the risks," a voice said from behind her.

Elena turned to find Klaus there holding a glass with some blood in it. "He knew he'd desiccate? Why would he agree to that?"

"There's very little my brother wouldn't do for you," Klaus said before walking over to her and holding out the glass of blood. "It's fresh. It may help."

Elena doubted it, given that most of the hunger she felt was actually Elijah's, but she took the glass anyway. She wasn't about to turn it down. "Thanks, though it wouldn't do much good. The hunger is mostly his."

"Can you feel everything he feels?" Klaus asked curiously.

"I don't know. I feel his hunger, and I think I feel some pain from him too. It's hard to tell because his hunger is so intense. It overrides everything else," Elana said before drinking the blood in a couple of gulps. It tasted amazing, but unsurprisingly, it did nothing to sate her hunger.

Klaus looked over at his brother. "Nothing was going to stop him from helping you. He was willing to do anything. He didn't care about the risks to himself."

Before Elena could respond, she heard Damon yelling from downstairs again. It stopped for a bit when Stefan went to free him, but he'd just found out she was a vampire again, and he wasn't taking it well.

"Ah, it seems Stefan has freed your stalker," Klaus said.

Elena was prepared to ignore Damon for the moment, but she could feel Elijah get stressed. It was clear he could feel what was happening around him. "He's agitating Elijah."

Klaus watched as the young vampire got up and exited the room with determination in her eyes. He then smirked at his brother. "Well, brother, I think you may have just won the lady over without even trying."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Elena followed Damon's voice down to the living room, where she found him with Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline, and Freya, the latter of whom looked exhausted. Those spells must have really drained her. The last thing she needed was to have to deal with a pissed off Damon.

"You had no right to turn her back! She was finally free of all this!" Damon yelled at Freya.

"She wasn't free of anything, Damon. She was in a coma," Bonnie argued.

"She would've woken up eventually! You let them do this to her! I told you no one was to touch her unless I said so!" Damon continued to yell.

"It wasn't up to you!" Elena said sharply.

Damon turned to Elena, and his anger dissipated quite a bit. "Elena. Are you okay?"

"If I wasn't, do you really think your screaming helped any?" Elena asked.

Damon sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just pissed about what they did to you. They broke my neck and locked me in the basement, so they could do experimental spells on you."

"I know what they did. I told them to," Elena told him.

"You told them to break my neck?" Damon asked in disbelief.

"I told them to incapacitate you, yes, because I knew you would not respect my choice. You never have," Elena said with bitterness. She was completely over her choices being impeded. After what Bonnie did to manipulate her into going through with this, she couldn't stand it anymore. She wouldn't stand it anymore.

"Elena, I've only ever done what I thought was best for you," Damon said.

"You don't get to decide what is best for me, Damon. I am an adult. I decide that, not you. Freya did what I asked her to do. Unlike everyone else in this room, she respected my right to decide," Elena said before turning to Freya. "Thank you for that. You could've done what you wanted without consulting me, but you didn't. You asked for my permission."

"It should never be any other way. I'm sorry to hear that it has been until now," Freya said.

"It shouldn't have happened at all! They had no right to turn you! You didn't want that," Damon said.

"Do you think I wanted to be in a coma for the next sixty or so years while everyone I loved aged and probably died?" Elena asked.

"You implied that you were okay with everything," Damon said.

"I didn't have a choice! It didn't matter if I was okay with it or not. There was no other option, except for Bonnie's death, and, yes, under that specific circumstance, I would've gladly dealt with the situation. That doesn't mean that I liked anything about it. It means I dealt with it, like I've always had to," Elena said.

"You were finally human again. We were both going to be human. You would've been free of this crazy world," Damon said.

"My God, Damon, stop deluding yourself! I was never going to be free of the supernatural world. I am a supernatural being. I was long before I became a vampire. I also lived in a town that attracted vampires, and even if we left town, that world would've chased after us. Sooner or later, we would've both ended up dead. That was always going to be my fate. Vampirism or dead. The fact that either one of us thought it would ever end any differently makes us both idiots," Elena said.

"Fine. It doesn't matter at this point anyway. Let's just get out of here. I don't want to be in this house any longer," Damon said. He was still furious about all this. He wanted to kill all the originals, and since he couldn't do that, he wanted to leave. He never should've let Bonnie convince him to come in the first place.

"You can do what you want. I'm not leaving Elijah," Elena said firmly. She couldn't even if she wanted to, which she didn't. She was connected to Elijah. Even now, she could feel him. It was like he was physically a part of her. Leaving him wasn't even a choice.

"What?" Damon asked in disbelief.

"Elijah desiccated trying to save me. They had to train him of his blood to get it into me, and now he's in bad shape," Elena said. She was sure it wouldn't matter to Damon. He was often very indifferent to the suffering of others if it didn't affect him or those he cared about. She cared though. She wouldn't abandon Elijah even if she could.

"Who cares?" Damon asked as though it was ridiculous for anyone to care.

"I do! Elijah selflessly put himself at risk to bring me back! I care a lot about the pain he's suffering right now because of that. Now, I am going to sit by his side until he's well. If any of you have a problem with that, I really don't care," Elena said before walking back up the stairs without another word.