The memorial.

Crowds of people flocked to Jackson Square in honour of those who fell during the Soul Eaters attack, everyone was in attendance, human, witch, werewolf and vampire all came to pay their respects for the fallen; they had carried the coffins through the streets with lit torches, banners, everyone carried a rose and there was funeral music being played by the locals of The French Quarter.

Elena was joined with her family as they continued to walk towards Lafayette cemetery, the witches where close behind her and she had worn the formal robes they passed onto her to stay hidden; the entire morning and afternoon she had a sense of dread she couldn't shake and the nearing of the ceremony brought her a new level of fear.

She glanced around, looking closely at the mourners, watching as the people all gathered in a slow music and grieving, this was a hard loss, a massacre in their very city and it tore them apart; she could feel it all, every sadness and heartache and it was hard to keep herself collected.

As they reached the cemetery, the coffins where all carried to the centre and the priests all stood around them, beginning there service; Elena was on the lookout, as where the others but when the tears started to fall and the more the priest spoke the words of loss, she felt a twist within her chest and she groaned quietly beneath her breath.

Elijah held onto her elbow and brought her a touch closer, whispering quietly to her, "are you alright?"

"The gift, everyone's pain, I can feel it," she whispered in response, her hand clinging to her chest as she tried to suppress the emotions; the others had heard the words she spoke and they all stood a step closer to her, trying to bring her calm in a hurricane of emotions.

"I'm here," Elijah said softly before interlocking his fingers with hers and locking his gaze onto her; in that moment, he did not care for secrets or hiding how he truly felt, only for her safety and he was rife with panic and fear for the days inevitable events.

She felt the love he was trying to project and the calm from the siblings but in times of great heartache, even they couldn't suppress all of the pain and she had to power through it; a small tear rolled down her cheek as the service continued and she tried to hold onto every emotion in the area.

She clung to his hand with a harder grip and groaned slightly by the tightening in her chest; by the time the service came to a near close, she was a mess of emotions and keeping her erratic power in check was no easy feat, she was worn out.

One-by-one the people of the town started to lay their roses at the feet of the coffins, the music changed to Frank Sinatra and the sadness filled the air; she walked towards the coffin behind everyone in a line until it was her turn to lay her rose, she knelt down and placed it along side the others.

Each of the siblings followed suit and payed there respects before they quickly left the cemetery, they blended in with the crowd as they all made there way to Bourbon Street, awaiting the celebration of the victims lives. There were pictures of them on every street corner, placed on an easel and decorated with flowers and ribbons.

Once she was away from the service, she took a deep breath and removed the box from her purse, the siblings congregated around her as she started to cast the spell that would hopefully end the Soul Eaters.

"The celebrations are to start in an hour," Klaus said as they all reached bourbon street and watched as the parade was being prepared, "we all know what to do."

They each separated and went in different ways, Elena had joined with the witches and Kimberly had given her a brown satchel bag with a magical trinket that belonged to each of the witches in the coven, giving her enough power to channel through them all.

Kol and the werewolves were on lookout, they knew warlocks would appear shortly to try and take her and they needed to keep everyone safe from their attack; Rebekah had vanished from the crowd and returned to the compound to grab the duffel of weapons they packed earlier.

Klaus and the hybrids where hovering close to Elena whilst she performed the magic they had discussed earlier with the coven and Davina was in attendance to help; scanning around the area, there was one missing, one he couldn't locate and the plan almost came to a a standstill.

"Elena," Klaus called out to her as he moved along the crowds of people to get to her; he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him, his face filled with solemn, "Elijah's gone, they must have took him."

"No, we have to find him now, Nik!"

Klaus heard a whistle in the distance and turned his attention to Kol on the balcony of the compound, he nodded his head and that was the signal that the warlocks where here; a loud cheer erupted when the clock tower chimed and the celebration's began with a bout of fireworks and a light show from the witches, each of them sending out an image of the deceased into the air.

Elena was moving through the crowd quickly, she could feel the warlocks in the immediate area and it was time, she pulled a crystal out of her bag and held it near her chest; she pressed her free fingers to her temple and started to chant a spell she wrote earlier with Davina under her breath and the memory flashed into her mind.

The compound - 4 hours earlier.

"We can't allow them to attack the celebrations and we can't exactly murder them in public either," Marcel was frustrated, he had a city to protect and no way of doing it.

"Me and Davina might be able to write a spell to channel the dark magic within them, I could disable it and render them unconscious, all you would have to do is send your vampires in for the bodies and hide them away, what happens to them after that is entirely up to the vampires," Elena didn't usually condone or relish in the thought of murdering others but she was done with the Soul Eaters and the attacks on her family, "do you think we could do it, 'Vina?"

"It won't be easy but if the spell is right and we charm it into a crystal, you'll be able to channel it anywhere, you'll just need to activate it when they are all in the area," Davina responded as she grabbed a piece of paper and pen from the centre of the table and began writing, Elena sat beside her and helped.

"We need blood from someone with dark magic, something we can connect the warlocks too," Davina raised a slight concern and Elena's mind began to race, she tapped away at her head until she came to the realisation.

"The darkness I felt before came from The Soul Eaters, there's probably some remnant of that inside me and I'm there target, I'm the only link we've got," she offered with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

"I'll work it into the spell, it should work," Davina agreed, before putting the pen to the paper and continuing to write.

"I hate to ask for more but I need one more thing today," she spoke, a small smile gracing her lips at her idea, "and I'll need every witch on it."

The memorial - present.

A shockwave of magic seeped through the area as she finished the spell and she looked over the crowd, her eyes glancing around the surrounding area as she watched bodies begin to drop without warning; the vampires where on them quick and no-one suspected a thing as they sped them off and hid them in the compound, Elena could only imagine what they where going to do from there.

"I have to find Elijah," she spoke gravely as she rejoined with Klaus, taking his hand in hers and stroking her thumb along his skin.

"It's not safe, Elena," he responded, feeling a warmth from her touch that he couldn't describe.

"I don't care," she released his hand and the crystal she once had hold of was now in his palm, "give this to someone to keep safe, they have to stay in this area or the charm will break and the warlocks will have power again."

He knew she gave it to him so she could leave without him chasing her and stopping her, he wouldn't risk the innocent lives and massacre that would come from letting the warlocks go unchecked and it gave her the opportunity for a head start.

"Elena, we will find him, if you go willingly and without my protection, you could be hurt," he tried one last time to change her mind, a futile attempt but he had too.

"I need to save him now, Nik, I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to him," her voice was soft and with a hint of sadness, his gaze locked onto hers and she could see his walls crumble.

"Why now? Why not just wait until we're all together?" He pleaded with her, trying to appeal to her logic but the flash of love across her face meant she wasn't using logic and it gave him the answer he had desperately tried to avoid.

"You know why, Nik," her gaze lowered to the ground for a quick moment, she couldn't face him, her heart was hammering from the panic rising within her and she took a few steps back, "I have to go, sort the crystal and get the others. Remember the plan."

And without looking back, she ran through the crowds, trying to suppress the hurt and grief she could feel radiate from him, she couldn't deal with it at that time even if it did hurt her; she went into a dark alleyway and hid herself at the back, placing her hand on the necklace, she called out to the ancestors.

Her eyes closed and she focused her magic, bringing as much power as she could to herself and she placed her fingers on the necklace, "Celeste, take me to Elijah."

And she was gone in a flash.

The compound - 3 hours earlier.

Elena was stuck buried in one of Esther's grimoires and the witches had all been hard at work fulfilling Elena's last request; Elijah and Klaus had acquired a large amount of kyanite and they had just finished making the last of the moonlight rings for the wolves.

"Once these are done, the packs will be able to attack with the strength of the wolf without having to change, they'll be able to help us in the battle against the warlocks," she spoke to Elijah and Klaus as they walked from the library and back into the courtyard.

"Elena," Davina called out and ran towards her when she seen her emerge from the back of the room; she was grasping the Soul Eaters book and she was panicking, "I've just finished reading every translation and there's a prophecy."

"What is it, D?" Elena responded and her fear started to return.

"The message you received this morning wasn't just a way to communicate with you, it was a step in the blood ceremony, you had to tame the darkness within your soul to be able to bring limbo here, they're going to use your consecrated body as the anchor between planes," she explained, as Elena took the book from her hands and glanced over it.

"She's right, the darkness that I pulled into myself was an essence of limbo and the step in the ritual was completed when I tamed it, my light merged with it and I can become the anchor, when I die, they can bury my body in a dark ceremony and consecrate me between planes," she further explained but she tried to keep her calm, she couldn't crack now.

"Read the next page," Davina said, her voice solemn and shaky.

Elena turned the page slowly, her lips parting slightly at the words as she read them out loud, "the doppelgänger will appear under the shroud of the moon with the power of a thousand and she will be coated in the blood of our family."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Elijah spoke through clenched teeth, breaking his silence and his facade slowly cracking away.

"It sounds like they're going to make me go willingly."

"How would they do that?" Elijah asked, filled with confusion but unfortunately, she already knew the answer to that question, she just couldn't say anything, not yet. Everything had to go perfectly, no slip ups.

Present.

Elena appeared deep within the bayou, she saw an abandoned house in the distance and she felt him within there; she knew it was a trap, of course it was but she didn't care.

She slowly approached the steps, holding onto every ounce of power she had as she swung open the door and walked further inside; it was derelict, the walls where crumbling and everything inside was broken or trashed but she could feel the dark magic they had encased Elijah in and she had to save him from it.

She walked through the main corridor until she found herself in a room covered with marks and sigils written in blood on the walls; she could feel him in the room but she couldn't see him, without even a spell, she used her Empath gift to fuel her and focused on the cloaking spell that covered him from her.

She felt the power surge through her and she projected it onto the room, her eyes closing as she heard the ancestors in her mind, conjuring a spell and the power she needed to drop the cloak; everything started to appear around her, there was a small alter table, a voodoo doll hanging from the ceiling and a mass amount of blood spread everywhere.

She turned around slowly and saw him, incapacitated and tied up in chains on the brick walls, his body dangled and he was cut to shreds; she quickly darted towards him and knelt down in front of him, her hands covering his blood filled face as she tried to bring him back to her.

She held her hand up beside her and closed it into a fist in attempt to break his chains but they wouldn't budge and then she remembered the ritual Sophie had performed when they arrived and she used the doll to bind her and Klaus; she quickly stood to her feet and stood in the centre of the room, she held her hand out once again and channelled every spell that had a hold of the room.

The marks and the sigils began to drip down the walls and the voodoo doll set on fire when she twisted her wrist and snapped her fingers, bringing all the charms down with it; she heard Elijah gasp loudly behind her and she quickly returned to him, kneeling down in front of him and inspecting his features.

She held out her fist once again and muttered a quick but powerful spell, bringing down his chains and unlocking the shackles that bound his wrists; he fell onto his knees weakly and he was slipping in and out of consciousness in her arms. She sat on the floor and rested his head on her lap, stroking the skin on his forehead and trying to magically awake him.

"Elijah?" She said as she placed her hands on his cheeks and shook him lightly to bring him back around, "Elijah, you need to feed."

She held out her wrist and pulled back the sleeve to the robe she was wearing, she squinted her eyes at the vein and caused a magical incision along it; the blood began to ooze from the wound and she pushed her wrist into his mouth. For a long moment, he was still and she was sure he wouldn't feed but she eventually felt a tug on her arm, he had wrapped his hands around her and brought her blood soaked wrist further into his mouth.

She was relieved, there was no fear within her and her blood remained the untainted, sweet and same euphoric tasting as it always did; her mind began wandering to earlier that day, the conversation that unfolded between them and how they knew this would happen.

The compound - 2 hours earlier.

"Elijah, can we talk for a minute?" Elena asked, before walking up the stairs and heading for Davina's bedroom, she had already asked the young witch to spell it from vampire hearing and she needed the privacy; once they where inside, she closed the door and locked it, activating the cloaking spell and giving them the time they needed to talk.

But there was no talking, she simply looked at him and everything within her ignited; they walked towards each other and crashed their lips together, she tangled her fingers in the ends of his hair and he pulled her by the waist so they could be as close as possible; every fiery passion beneath their surfaces came rising up and they indulged for a few long minutes.

Elena was terrified about how this night could unfold, if everything went according to plan then they would be safe but if even one step is foiled or if she forgets to complete even the tiniest spell, then it will all come crashing down around them. The people she loved could die, the man she loves more than anything in this world could be lost to her and her life would never be the same again.

But in this short fleeting moment of togetherness, none of that really mattered, only him and their bond and the forever she promised him.

She slowly pulled her lips away from his and rested her forehead on his chin, a small sigh escaping her lips and her eyes welling up, "Elijah, they're going to come for you."

"I know," he spoke lowly and placed his lips on her forehead in a soft and lingering kiss.

"They're going to torture you, delve into your mind and kill you if you don't give them what they want," her voice was shaky and her breathing laboured.

"I'd sooner die than compromise your safety, Elena, there's no choice," he smoothed his hand up her back, feeling the curve in her spine and the heat beneath her shirt, he had to breathe her all in and take in every moment he could with her.

"You're not going to die, you're going to tell them everything, I won't lose you," she ran her hands down his arms slowly until they reached his, holding them tightly and bringing him closer, "you're going to tell them about the box I've got, the moonlight rings, the charms, everything."

"You know I would never dream of doing that to you, Elena," his brow furrowed and he was confused.

"This is the new plan, Elijah, you have to trust me, put up a fight, try to escape, anything you need to sell it but tell them everything, it's important," she reassured him and divulged him only the most important facts of the plan, she hated keeping him in the dark but this was safer, "you can't die, Elijah, I love you."

He nodded his head in agreement, his confusion still rife but he trusted her with everything, his life, his family, his heart and certainly this plan, he pulled her into him once again and indulged, "I love you too."

Present.

Elijah released the grip he had on her arm and he was already feeling stronger, he pulled himself up into a sitting position and they instantly connected, he pulled her onto his lap and she wrapped herself around him, there lips meeting in a quick but passionate kiss.

"Did you tell them everything?" She asked once they separated, her fingers trailing along his cheek and smoothing over the blood stains and cuts that were starting to heal.

"I was unable too, I was rendered unconscious the entire time, all I felt was the pain they inflicted on me and the mind dive, they saw our conversation and the plan we had within my thoughts," he told her, before he used his speed to lift her up and returned them both to there feet.

"Good," she smiled softly at him as his energy and strength began to return to him, he took her hand in his and placed a soft kiss on the back of her palm, "we have to go, it's time to finish this."

"When this is all over, I'm taking you far away from this city and we're starting our life somewhere new, all I want is for us to be together, Elena, no more enemies or threats, just us," his words where filled with love and she felt every single one of them; she nodded her head once with a small grin and kissed him softly on the cheek.

"I'll hold you to it."

They left the abandoned house and she started walking further through the bayou, she had Celeste and the ancestors with her to guide her straight to them; she stopped dead in her tracks when she crossed over a cloaking spell, she felt the dark magic within it and that meant they where close. She took a few steps back so she was in the clear and began the next step in the plan.

She reached into her bag and grabbed a crystal from it, she undone the robes she was wearing, revealing the black funeral dress she had wore and set them down on the floor, burying the crystal within it; she held onto Celeste's necklace once again and channelled her power, sending a message to Klaus that would appear as a note in his pocket.

"Ready?" Elijah asked, his grip of her hand tightening that ever so slightly more.

"No but let's get it over with," she removed Celeste's necklace from around her neck and placed it into Elijah's hand, her gaze fixating on his, "you know what to do."

"Be careful," he placed a soft kiss on her forehead before disappearing away from her, the rest of the plan was about to unfold as she took those dreaded and dangerous steps over the threshold of the cloaking spell.

What she saw before her eyes was something she had only ever seen in her darkest nightmares and she knew there was a chance she might not make it back from this one.