Elena.

For a girl so young, Elena thought of death far more than she should, the rate being far from normal and even in her emotionless state, she still considered death. She had a stronger instinct to survive, her self-preservation had never been of much concern to her before flipping the switch, but since, she had been far more invested in it.

Perhaps it was because she didn't have anything else to live for or care for, no emotions to feel, so that void had to be filled with something - ergo, self-preservation.

Once she saw how unhinged Marcel was in those few fleeting seconds before he snapped her neck, before everything went blank and she became practically dead, self-preservation kicked in and she needed to survive.

She didn't know how long she was passed out for or even where she was, didn't know what his plan was or if he even intended on letting her live after. All she knew was pain. White hot, mind numbing pain, and she was bound in chains that were fixed onto two adjacent walls.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly but the light hurt, felt like they were being prodded with two hot iron pokers repeatedly as the sunlight hit her hues. She saw blood, a lot of it. It was in pools on the floor beneath her, her clothes soaked, ripped and torn... He was trying to drain the vervain out of her system. How long had she been here for?

The more torture he had inflicted upon her, the longer she would have stayed out. That much she did know. Her eyes fluttered open again, she saw a table with a bunch of magic utensils and equipment spread out across it. Eyes closed again. She was weak, ravenous and in far too much pain to keep her eyes open for any length of time, but seconds would do.

"She's waking up, Marcel," She heard an unfamiliar voice, a girl, sounded to be young, with Marcel - she put two and two together, had to be Davina. They hadn't actually met officially, the only time she saw her was passed out in St. Ann's church.

She heard footsteps, light steps and heavy ones, it was both of them approaching her and she felt Marcel's presence in front of her. She kept her eyes closed and listened in, feigned unconsciousness and sought to learn as much as she could before this plan would be enacted.

"She's slipping back out, D," He reassured, before joining back at the table with her once again, "It's been 30 hours, Davina, I managed to buy you a day, but Klaus wants you at the compound soon, are you any closer?"

She was confused, nervous and ready to rip out someone's throat. She thought the days of being used in a witches endeavours had been long behind her, what could Davina possibly want with her? She was interested. It was poor timing, but she was interested nonetheless.

"I'm nearly done, you need to buy me a few more hours, If this works, then I'll have everything I need to kill Klaus."

Uh-oh.

Kill Klaus... No, she couldn't have a hand in that, whether it was unwilling or not, even if she died after Davina was through with her, she couldn't go to the other side and watch him die. She didn't have any emotions but she knew that much, she was loyal still and it seemed foolish of Davina to go against him. She was 16 years old, Klaus was as ruthless as a wild and starved lion, he'd kill her mercilessly, and if he found out it was Elena's fault, he'd kill her too, just on principle.

"Are you sure this is going to work? I can't be going up against The Original Family on a maybe, D."

"She's the doppelganger, Marcel, her blood is powerful, stronger than a full moon, that's why Esther used the blood of her ancestor to turn them a thousand years ago," how did she know all this? "She's connected to them, it will work."

What was she trying to do?

Marcel knew her blood didn't contain the mystical properties needed to use in spells anymore, not since she died and became a vampire. She was starting to regret revealing the secrets about her bloodline and history with the Mikaelson's, she knew she would.

His phone started ringing and he took it outside the room. She was disappointed, she couldn't hear the conversation, only the chants from Davina. She felt a blast of wind surge through the building and Elena knew that it was strong magic, likely stronger than she had ever witnessed before. She heard those light foot steps nearing her again and Davina was in front of her, if she had the strength or knew if she was close enough, she'd rip her throat out. But she couldn't be sure, so she remained as dead as a door nail.

That was, until she felt the slice of a blade across her palm and it took everything she had not to wince or move. She heard her blood drip into a metal container of some kind, could have been a bowl or a goblet, she couldn't be sure.

Elena heard Marcel race back into the room, his breathing was heavy, more ragged and panicked, "I have to go, Davina, there's a problem. Are you sure you can handle this?"

"I'll be fine," Davina responded, "what's the problem? Do you need any help?"

"No, just finish this, I'll stall as long as I can," and Marcel was gone, vampire sped right out of the room as quick as a flash.

Which meant she was finally alone with Davina.

The Compound - Klaus.

Elijah couldn't find Marcel through magic, Rebekah discovered Davina was absent from the church and Klaus couldn't reach Marcel. That left only one option. A violent option, but it was all he had left.

Klaus was at the compound, his once home now returned to him, his family home, the place that the nightwalkers all seemed to congregate in during daylight hours and in a fit of rage, he stormed inside, snapping the necks of two vampires that stood by the gate.

The entire room came to a defensive standstill, fangs bared, animalistic positions held and some attempted to attack, but they lost their hearts quicker than it took for them to process the thought. There was a lot of vampires, mostly riff raff, some daywalkers and most importantly, Marcel's right hand man, Diego.

"Marcel!" Klaus roared, voice echoing across the entire compound. If there was anyone who could roar, it was Klaus Mikaelson. The alpha male, strongest of his kind, when he was angry, everyone would feel it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Diego run out of the room with his phone at his ear and he knew he was informing the former King of his attack against the vampires. He sped further into the room, snapping the necks of several more vampires until Diego returned ten minutes later, he appeared in front of him and shoved Klaus back away from his next victim.

Elijah blasted through the entrance next, taking the heart of one of the nightwalkers, before snatching Diego by the neck and pinning him onto the stone wall behind him. Klaus was by his side in an instant and Diego didn't fight back, barely flinched, he was frozen in fear.

"Where's Elena?" Elijah asked, voice as cold and collected as usual, it was more terrifying than that of a scream.

"How am I supposed to know?" Diego was defensive, as he should have been, the hybrid had already defeated him once this week during the fight for the Kingdom, he doubted he wanted the same to happen again, "What happened, Klaus?"

"Where's Marcel?" Klaus growled lowly, voice deep, it was scarier than any deafening roar he could produce. It meant he was serious, deadly serious.

"I called him, he's on his way, he'll be here any minu-"

"Klaus!" Marcel exclaimed as he appeared in the room, his face screamed guilt and suspicion. He glanced around at the bodies of vampires that lay desiccated, he caused this, he only hoped it wasn't in vain.

The brothers were on him quicker than a tiger hunting a deer and Marcel found himself being hurled across the room at top speed. His back bounced off the stone wall, landing on his stomach with a thud and he clambered onto his knees.

But there was no stopping Klaus, he was lost to his rage and he wouldn't relent until he found Elena. He blurred across the room and grabbed Marcel by the throat, holding him in the air whilst the vampires in the room watched in fear, "What did you do, Marcel?"

"Nothing-"

"Don't lie to me," he squeezed at his neck tighter, his eyes appearing a darker golden by the minute, "Camille told me everything."

Marcel felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, first a call and then a text, he only prayed it was Davina calling to inform him the spell was complete. He hadn't anticipated Klaus finding out so soon or how angry he would be - he assumed he held no feeling for the doppelgänger and would barely notice she was gone. God, how wrong he had been.

"Fine," he shoved at Klaus to prove his point, not at an attempt to free himself, that was futile but to show he had conceded.

Klaus released him with a flick of his wrist and Marcel just about managed to stay on two feet, "If I have to ask again."

"She's at the docks, unit 42."

He snapped Marcel's neck like a twig.

The Docks - Elena.

Davina had prepared an altar around her, she heard the sprinkle of salt being drawn around her, the clank of ingredients hitting the inside of a metal bowl and more of her blood had been spilled. She allowed Davina those extra few minutes she needed to prepare, if only to lull her into a false sense of security.

"You know," Elena said, as confidently and sarcastically as she could considering how weak she was. Davina instantly snapped her line of sight onto her and she looked cocky, far too brave for one so young and it irritated Elena, "I could have told you my blood doesn't work anymore, all you had to do was ask."

"I know it doesn't," Davina responded, before turning her attention back onto her magical equipment. Elena had no idea what any of that stuff was, all she could make out was the herbs, the black candle, the dagger and what appeared to be a talisman of some kind.

"So, why do you need it?" Elena raised her eyebrows.

"And why would I tell you that?" She bit back, if Elena wasn't so weak, she'd probably appreciate the fightback.

"Well, I'm sure you're going to kill me soon anyway, you might as well divulge me your secret."

Elena watched her carefully, Davina started mixing in some of the herbs into her blood. The metal bowl was large, there seemed to be at least two pints worth of doppelgänger blood in there and Elena was becoming less interested and more curious.

Davina hovered her hands next to the bowl and began chanting, she was a powerful witch, had the power of the entire harvest coursing through her and she could feel it in the air. The candles lit, flames soared high and the wind thrashed around them.

Elena pulled at the chains, using whatever strength she had left but she couldn't. Her self-preservation kicked in and she had to get out of there. The chains seemed to be bound in magic, no matter how hard she pulled, they wouldn't budge, didn't even leave a mark on the brick.

Her blood started to boil in the bowl and Davina chanted louder, whatever magic she was using, it was dark, ancient, one she probably shouldn't be tapping into so young but when you have that much magic, there would be no point in caring about technicalities.

Davina stopped chanting and she gasped as she reclaimed her strength. Elena watched as she hovered her hand over the blood concoction in the bowl and a few long moments later, she grinned widely, "It worked."

"What worked?" Elena exasperated, jaw clenched.

"Your blood..."

Elena's brow furrowed, the cogs in her mind working overtime as she contemplated, theorised, anything to make sense of what just happened. But in her heart of hearts, she knew. And once she realised, her eyes widened and lips parted, unfiltered and raw shock apparent on her facial features and her stomach knotted, "please tell me you didn't," she prayed, for the first time in her life, she was praying.

"I had too," Davina radiated strength, "Klaus needs to die, he's a monster."

"You couldn't have, it's impossible, I'm dead," she was in denial, she shook her head vigorously and her mind delved to all the possible outcomes that could come from this. She only saw dangerous ones.

"But magic as old and as powerful as this, doppelgänger blood, two thousand year old magic leaves a mark, infuses into your very bones even in death. Just like when a witch dies and we consecrate their bones, it's the only way we have access to their power, it never dies, just lays dormant until it's accessed again through the earth. This ritual is like that, a sort of consecration, if you will, only I won't have to bury you, nature created you, I only have to infuse nature back into you from the earth and return the magic to you," she spoke far too proudly, she had accomplished something no other had done before and it was empowering.

"No!" Elena yelled, her temper rising by the minute.

"Doppelgänger blood doesn't just die, there's always a loophole, even in magic as old as this and I found it. The mystical properties just lay dormant, I woke them back up with the ritual and with all the power I have, it was simple."

Elena pondered heavily and her mind went back to Mystic Falls, when they learnt about Silas and the creation of the shadow-selves, how If she'd took the cure, she still would have been a doppelgänger upon becoming human again. Was it, in fact, just dormant? Whatever magic was in the cure would have reinstated the mystical properties in her blood, had Davina unwittingly used it?

"You don't realise what you have done," she growled, pulling at the chains with the strength she had acquired from her surge of adrenaline but even then, she failed.

"There's a spell, one in Esther's grimoires that can be used to kill the Original Family, all I was missing was the blood of the doppelgänger and since they're extremely rare, I had to get creative," She dipped her hand into the blood in the bowl, the strongest blood on earth and took a few steps towards her, hand extended out and aimed at Elena, "I have to do this, I need to protect the people I care about."

"No, no, no, Davina, sto-"

She started chanting before Elena had the chance to object and she was instantly taken by the power she was inflicting upon her. Her head whipped back and a scream burst from her lips. The screaming wouldn't stop for minutes to come. She was attempting to change her entire DNA and Elena assumed that wasn't going to be an easy or painless feat.

She could feel her blood boiling, bones felt like they were breaking and she could feel her body fighting against it. But Davina wouldn't relent, she only channelled more power and the room became a chaotic mess of the elements, fire soared, wind thrashed and even the blood in the bowl began to bubble. Davina was channelling it and it gave her more power than she already possessed.

But it was agony, pure unadulterated pain and she thought it could kill her, would kill her at any given moment. Her brain felt like it was exploding over and over again and flashes of white clouded her vision. The very blood in her veins felt different, it was going from a complete boil to a simmer and it gushed from her nose as Davina continued to funnel power through her.

The altar she had built around her feet had many of the elements needed to channel - there was water, soil, candles, even salt was an object of power when used correctly and each of them reacted violently as Davina chanted louder. The louder she got, the more pain she felt and another deafening scream burst from the doppelgängers lips.

But then, she felt it - the strength, the magic, how her blood used to feel when she was alive, warmer somehow. And the chanting stopped, the ritual finished and Elena felt a spark emit through her entire body. It weakened her, almost to the point of her death and Davina made it worse, so much worse, when she sliced a dagger across her palm once again. She filled a small mason jar with her blood and slipped it into her bag.

Elena was slipping out of consciousness once again when she heard a loud slam of a door, then a crash and another, and Davina instantly looked panicked, her eyes widened before she ran, took a side exit and left within seconds.

Her vision was clouded, hazy and all she could see was black spots dancing around her line of sight. But then she heard it, the deafening roar of a beast protecting its own, "Elena!" He called out across the building.

And within seconds, he was in front of her, face filled with shock horror at what he saw. The blood that had been spilt from her body by the litre, the torn clothes from the many stab wounds she had suffered through from Marcel's attempt to drain her of vervain, all the magical equipment that surrounded her and this was the weakest he had ever seen her. He felt his heart fracture.

"Elena, sweetheart," his voice softened completely and he knelt down in front of her, hands cupping her cheeks as he tried to rouse her, "Elena, you have to wake up."

He tried to pull at her chains but they weren't budging, the sound of the chains striking against the brick caused her to flinch but she couldn't move, only whispered, "Klaus..."

"I'm here, little raven, I'm going to get you out of here," he looked around the room, mainly at the ceiling until he saw a wicker doll hanging above the table and he destroyed it within seconds. This was a spell from Esther's grimoire, an object can be used to channel a binding spell within it.

He pulled at the chains once again and they broke easily. Her body fell forward, knees hitting the ground with a scrape and everything hurt. But he caught her so effortlessly in his arms and held her, cradled her closely as they went down onto the floor together, "what did they do to you, love?" He smoothed his hand through her hair.

His eyes flashed golden as he sunk his fangs into his wrist and pressed it against her lips. It wasn't human blood, wouldn't replenish her as well but it would work for now. His blood slid down her throat and she felt it start to work. But she was starving, ravenous and she grasped onto his arm with a tight grip, drawing blood without so much as a second thought.

"Elena," his brow furrowed, she seemed stronger, the hold she had of him was tighter than he had experienced before and he had to rip his arm away with force.

A loud gasp burst from her lips and she shot up into a sitting position, she was panicked, eyes searching frantically around the room until she saw Klaus and she clung to him. Her arms slid around his neck tightly and she wrapped her legs around his waist without hesitation. He'd never seen her so frantic, never experienced her seeking comfort and he was completely taken aback by it. His arms enveloped around her and he could have swore he heard her heart skip a beat.

"Get me out of here," she spoke weakly.

And he did, he held onto her tighter and vanished them from the warehouse.

The Compound - Klaus.

There was magic and spells, ancestral power and that of nature, Klaus grew up around magic, knew enough about it to know when he should be concerned. His mother was one of histories most powerful witches and yet, he still hadn't seen a ritual such as that one, performed by a harvest witch no less and considering the state Elena was in when he found her, he knew it would have been a spell of great magnitude.

He didn't much care for the details, not now, he only wanted to see his doppelganger safe but she was far from it. Somewhere between the docks and the compound, she fainted, the effects of his blood had wore off and the exhaustion took her.

His siblings all hovered around her bed where she slept, still in the blood soaked clothes and covered in it. Her body had healed the artificial wounds but something was stopping her from waking. She couldn't wake long enough to feed, not even a few sips of a bloodbag passed through her lips and the family was growing concerned.

"What happened, Niklaus?" Elijah asked, as he knelt down beside the bed and brought himself to her eye level, "she's completely healed, there's not a mark on her, she should be awake."

"I'm not sure," and that was the truth, he still hadn't processed what he saw, "from what I can gather, they used her in some sort of ritual, Davina had a lot of magical items, some extremely rare, she drew in a lot of power."

"I'm going to kill Marcel," Rebekah exasperated, her teeth clenched tightly closed and she barely muttered the words.

"Why would they do this to her?" Hayley asked, her confusion and sadness apparent. She was sat on the bed beside her, combing her fingers through her hair and giving the comfort she once offered her.

"After you left, I spoke with Marcel, he claims to have only taken her as retaliation for your take over of the city," Elijah sighed, returning to his feet and approaching his brother, "he swore Davina only used magic to torture her."

"The ritual was too intricate, far too many items of power to just be used for torture," he shook his head, "no, he tortured her enough, drained her off vervain-"

"Elena's on vervain?" Rebekah questioned, eyebrow raised.

"Is that really the point?" Klaus exasperated but Rebekah simply shrugged, "yes, she's on vervain, she's ingested it daily since she arrived here, she's just not aware I know it."

"Why am I not surprised she doesn't trust us?" Rebekah sounded disappointed, figured after months of living together, that Elena finally trusted her.

"I don't think this is a 'us' scenario, Rebekah, it's me she doesn't trust," Klaus became indifferent, feigned a coldness to his voice as to not make himself vulnerable.

"Back to the point, Klaus," Hayley interjected abruptly, her eyes widening for a long moment.

"Right," he pursed his lips together as he joined at Elena's side on the bed, "she was completely drained, there was so much blood, Elijah," he turned to look at his brother, "this was more than just retaliation, she had been tortured more than enough and for him to involve Davina, his pseudo-daughter figure that he protects heavily, no, this was something else."

"We just have to wait until she wakes up, maybe then we'll know more," Elijah responded, eyes fixated on Elena and it pained him more than he would admit, to see her in such a weakened state, "we'll keep interrogating Marcel until he divulges the details and we'll move Davina in here tonight."

Klaus nodded his head and both Rebekah and Elijah left the room, their pursuit for Davina starting and he was sure his brother was going to torture Marcel endlessly until he relented. He didn't give him enough credit, so he made a mental note to do so.

"You can go and help them, Klaus, I'll make sure she's taken care of," Hayley offered, her brow furrowed as she watched him soften ever so slightly.

"You shouldn't be around her. If she wakes, she may not be able to control her hunger," he offered a weak excuse, he knew very well that Elena couldn't hurt Hayley, they were somehow bonded but he wouldn't be seen as vulnerable, "I won't put you or the child in danger."

"Elena won't hurt us, you know that," She spoke confidently, "even without her humanity on, she's still loyal."

"I know."

"So, you can leave, help your family, Klaus," Hayley turned to look at Elena, hand still smoothing through her hair, "I got her."

"If she wakes, call me," he stood from the bed, glancing back one last time before he headed for the door, "and fetch a stake from downstairs, just in case she is less compliant when she wakes. Don't hesitate, just don't get her heart."

"I know what to do."

He vanished, but not before giving Elena one last lingering look.