After Elijah had left her, Elena had barely moved for what felt like forever, but in reality was only about ten minutes. By the time she wandered inside, her skin had airdried and only her hair remained dripping.
She wandered through the house in a daze, too bound by confusion at Klaus not taking the opportunity to rat her out to Elijah to notice the brunette rounding the corner.
"God, you could at least watch where you're going!" Hayley snapped, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at Elena.
"Sorry, I didn't expect anyone else to be up." Elena muttered, looking down at their feet rather than up at the werewolf; Elijah aside, Hayley was the first person Elena had encountered face to face since she'd regained her emotions. Part of her sensed that she needed to try and regain her footing with someone more stable before dealing with the likes of Hayley.
"Clearly." Hayley sneered, rolling her eyes and stepping around Elena with a huff.
Elena let out a soft sigh, closing her eyes for a moment to try and calm the emotions that were flaring inside of her. Trying to suddenly control any emotions, after several weeks without any, was like pouring water on a grease fire, except she had no idea what her equivalent of baking soda was.
Hayley scoffed again as she walked away. "I have no idea what he sees in you."
"Excuse me?" Elena bit, spinning to face the wolf, any semblance of controlling her emotions flying out of the window.
"Elijah thinks so damn highly of you, but you're just a cruel, manipulative bitch who takes delight in hurting everyone around her."
Elena let out a bitter laugh, glaring at the girl in front of her. "You are so full of crap." She hissed, shaking her head disbelievingly, "You're responsible for the deaths of twelve hybrids who trusted you, and you still think you have some sort of moral high ground here?"
"At least I didn't get my whole family killed." Hayley bit back, her eyes dark.
Elena's face fell, the veins under her eyes darkening and her fangs lengthening as she launched herself at the wolf. Her fury overriding everything else, aside from the pair of arms that grabbed her around the waist and pulled her away from Hayley.
A growl tore from Elena's throat as she felt hands restraining her easily, she just about registered a bare-chested Klaus stood protectively in front of Hayley before she was spun to face Elijah. His relinquished grip on her was a mere illusion as his hands firmly kept hold of the tops of her arms.
"Elena." He snapped, the hardness of his voice vaguely making Elena wonder if she'd ever heard such a tone directed at her before.
She ignored him, glaring at the woman behind him instead, trying to move to attack her, frustrated when she couldn't gain an inch over Elijah. Pretending to herself that she was too furious to look away from Hayley, something inside of her was denying the anger; understanding that she couldn't bare to look at his face after the pain she'd caused him.
"Look at me." Elijah said firmly, unintentionally shaking her shoulders slightly. "Elena."
Finally, she drew her gaze from Hayley, looking up at Elijah with a clenched jaw and hardened eyes, even as her fangs and veins faded away, unable to remain as she looked at him.
Instead of the pain she expected to see scrawled across his face, his features were carefully blank, paving the way for a soft, relieved smile as she looked at him. He let out a soft breath, lightening his hold on her arms and gently rubbing them slightly in way of apology.
"You do not want to do this, Elena, we both know that." Elijah whispered, trying to implore some of his composure onto her. "Your emotions are not fully in check, and you don't want to do something you may regret later."
Elena took in a long, shuddering breath, stunned at the compassion coming from Elijah, when only minutes earlier he'd been unable to remain in her presence. Her eyes welled slightly, and she shook her head, not sure what to say to the man in front of her.
"I can't stay here, Elijah." She whispered back, just about registering Klaus pulling Hayley away from the pair, giving them some room to talk, despite the fact that Hayley couldn't hear them. "Not now, after tonight, I-"
"You're running again." Elijah said softly, smiling at her when she went to argue with him. "It's alright, Elena," he assured her quickly, "if I am being perfectly honest with you, I never thought you would stay here this long after regaining your emotions."
"You told me to stop running," Elena pointed out softly, "maybe not in so many words, but still."
"And yet, I ran." Elijah said with a slight shrug. "It would be rather hypocritical of me to begrudge you running from the situation you find yourself in."
Elena let out a breathy laugh, shaking her head slightly. How on Earth did he manage to see things so clearly? He'd been so upset with her half an hour ago, now it was like talking to a different person, would she ever be able to do that?
"Here," Elijah said suddenly, releasing her arms completely and pulling something from his pocket, "take this."
"Elijah." She breathed, shaking her head as he tried to hand her a black piece of plastic. "I cannot take your card."
"Please." He said softly, placing the card in her hand and wrapping hers around it. "Take the card, find somewhere to stay for the night, although, I would recommend staying away from The Luxe, I believe that's where you friends have taken residence."
"Elijah-"
He shook his head slightly, cutting off anything she'd been about to say. "One night, Elena, we can figure out something more permanent tomorrow. I won't take no for an answer." He said, raising an eyebrow when she still hesitated.
Elena let out a soft sigh at his words, shaking her head as she studied the card in her hand. "Fine." She relented, absently twirling the plastic in her hands.
"Don't worry about price." Elijah said with a smile. "I can afford it."
Elena had ignored Elijah's advice about the cost of her hotel room. Of course.
It landed her in a slightly dingy hotel, but it was quiet, off the radar, and, most importantly, something that she could actually afford to pay him back.
Come morning, she found herself standing outside a familiar door, feeling more of a stranger than anything else. She took a calming breath, drawing in her resolve and forcing herself to knock on the door lightly.
Curious blue eyes peered around the door, widening when they took in Elena stood there.
"I think I'm ready to talk now." Elena whispered, her hands in her pockets as she avoided the eyes staring back at her. "If the offer still stands."
"Of course, it does." Davina breathed, opening the door widely with a brilliant smile. "Come on in."
"She said what?" Davina hissed, the air crackling as fury seeped from the young girl.
Elena quirked her lips slightly at her, not sure what to say to try and comfort her, she assumed Davina and Marcel didn't know about Hayley's condition, and, while they wouldn't hurt her, she had no idea how far Marcel would be happy to go to hurt Klaus. "Elijah and Klaus showed up before things got…uglier." Elena shrugged after a moment, tilting her head at the witch from her position on the bed.
"What happened?" Davina asked gently, sitting back beside Elena, her legs folded under her.
Elena let out a long breath, breaking eye contact with Davina and looking at her easel instead, studying the current sketch the younger girl was working on. "He was so kind to me; I don't understand how." She muttered, shaking her head.
"You expected him to hate you." Davina supplied, blinking several times as she thought through what Elena had already told her about the night. "What happened with his brother? You skimmed over it while we were talking, but you didn't fill in many details."
"Kol." Elena sighed, rubbing her temples slightly. "Jeremy was one of the five, that meant that he had a mark on his arm, like a tattoo, but invisible to everyone aside from other members of the five. Once the mark was completed it would lead to Silas, the world's first immortal being." She sighed again. "Kol didn't want that to happen, so he tried to kill Jeremy. We manage to find the one thing that will kill and Original and Jeremy put him down, with my help."
"So, you didn't kill Kol?" Davina said softly, skimming over the information about Silas. "Jeremy did, and you were only trying to protect your family."
"I was responsible." Elena denied, shaking her head. "Katherine used Silas to kill Jeremy, she didn't do it herself, but I hate her for it."
"Katherine had a choice," Davina said, tilting her head at Elena, "it doesn't sound like you did."
"There's always a choice." Elena muttered, closing her eyes for a moment.
"Elijah is known as the noble one for a reason, Elena, Kol forced your hand; I'm sure he can understand that better than anyone."
Elena let out another sigh, drawing her knees to her chest and resting her chin on them. "You're too rational for a teenager." She muttered, struggling to find more holes with Davina's arguments.
Davina laughed. "I have to be in this city."
Elena's features fell at the reminder of the torment Davina had already been had to in her life, and here Elena was unloading problems on her that she had no need to deal with. "I shouldn't be putting this on you," she murmured, shaking her head, "it's not fair."
"Elena," Davina smiled, rolling her eyes slightly, "I think of you as a friend, and I like to think that you consider me in the same way. I don't have much experience with friends lately, but I don't think I've been out of the loop long enough that sharing drama and guy problems isn't a common topic anymore."
Unintentionally letting out a snort, Elena hesitantly pulled Davina into a soft hug, closing her eyes as she embraced the first truly innocent moment of friendship she'd been a part of for a long time. "Anyone would be lucky to call you a friend, D." Elena whispered, squeezing her slightly before pulling away.
Davina smiled at her, letting out a soft sigh as she did so. "You're a good person, Elena, you just have a lot to deal with right now, and that's okay. I can't imagine how hard it must be to have not felt anything at all for weeks, and to deal with all of that on top of finding out what's going on with you and Elijah."
Elena scoffed softly, wrapping her arms around her legs again. "I think saying it's a lot is a bit of an understatement."
"Probably." Davina agreed with a light shrug, both of their gazes automatically falling to Elena's pocket as her phone chirped.
"It's Elijah." She said softly, reading the message. "He wants to talk."
"You should go." Davina urged, nodding at the brunette in front of her. "I get that your bond is scary right now, but I think that Elijah really does care about you; for what it's worth, from what I can find out, Ligatus Animarum doesn't have any effect on your emotions, everything you both feel is your own."
Elena swallowed thickly, unsure what to think about the implications of Davina's words, before deciding to try and put the thought to bed. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to want thoughts like that batting around in her head with the conversations that she and Elijah needed to have.
"I do believe I told you not to worry about cost." Elijah said pointedly, raising an eyebrow at Elena when she met him in the lobby of the hotel she'd stayed in for the night.
Elena shrugged slightly, not sure how Elijah managed to make her feel abashed about not spending more of his money than she needed to. "It's better than it looks."
Elijah only kept his eyebrow raised, his hands in the pockets of his slacks as he waited for Elena to elaborate.
"I didn't want to spend more than I could pay back." Elena muttered eventually, avoiding meeting his eyes, not wanting to see the disappointment she was sure would be written in them.
"I don't expect anything of the sort." Elijah breathed, shaking his head slightly. "I tried my best to make that clear."
Elena shrugged again, still avoiding looking at Elijah. "I think I've taken enough from you recently, I should never have even accepted your money." She sighed, looking at her feet.
"If you must insist on paying me back, then, please, allow me to buy you a drink, at least; we have much to discuss." Elijah gently placed a finger under her chin, making the doppelganger finally look at him, finding herself surprised, again, when there was no trace of anger on his features. "There's a lovely little café not far from him, they do the most delectable beignets."
Elena let out a soft laugh. "You should've led with that."
HisSecretLover18: That sums them up perfectly! I think it would have been more like 5 steps back if Elijah had found out from someone else :( Thank you!
midnight-writer97: Ahhhh, I missed hearing from you last chapter! Yes! I'm so glad I managed to surprise you! I'm so excited to progress them! I hope you enjoy!
Guest: I'm not sure she needs to sacrifice her limbs to get her man back! Elijah was never going to stray far! Don't worry, going downhill means there's a lot to come to get them back up on top ;)
Thank you all for your reviews! I know my updates have been slightly slower paced than what they used to be, being back at work has made it tough to get on here and post!
All the same, I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter! Please, please let me know what you think! I look forward to it! You may even get another chapter very soon ;)
Until next time
~ I x