So, some random ghost showed up in your loft and conveniently gave you the answers for who did this, and you believed them?" Klaus summed up, eyes narrowed and lips pursed as he took in Davina's story. "Really smart, kid."
"I'm not a kid." Davina bit back, returning Klaus's glare with just as much venom. "Of course, I didn't believe him. With the magic from the harvest, I can sense other beings and sketch them, it's how we find people illegally practicing magic in New Orleans."
Klaus's derisive snort was all the answer anyone in the room needed, and Elijah sighed, uttering his brother's name in warning, careful not to speak to loudly or jolt the doppelganger leaning against his side.. "Enough, let Miss Claire talk."
Klaus rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall behind him as Elijah turned his attention to Davina. "I assume you brought this sketch?"
"He told me there were a lot of people in this city who could identify him, so I thought passing the drawing to the oldest living residents of the city would make sense."
"May I?" Elijah asked, holding his hand out for the piece of paper Davina held in her hands. She nodded, handing over the picture to Elijah, confused at the sharp intake of breath from Elena, who was looking at the picture from beside him.
"Is that?"
"Yes." Elijah nodded, passing the picture to Rebekah and Klaus, receiving similar reactions from them. "Whom exactly did he tell you was responsible, Miss Claire?"
"He just wrote a name, Céleste Dubois." Davina frowned, confused by the reactions of the vampires in the room. "Who is he?"
"Our younger brother," Rebekah breathed, admiring the picture she held, "Kol."
"Why the hell would Kol want to help me?" Elena frowned, confusion colouring her tone and expression. "There's a decent chunk of history there that makes it pretty unlikely."
Davina tilted her head at Elena. "Kol Mikaelson, he is the Original that you and Jeremy killed?"
Elena nodded, her eyes darting off to Elijah beside her for a moment. "I really don't understand why he would want to help me."
Elijah let out a soft sigh, rubbing his brow. "I can only guess at Kol's motivations, however, I do know of whom he speaks. Céleste was a former partner of mine, Niklaus may has well have slain her by his own hand in 1820."
Klaus frowned, tilting his head at Elijah. "Really? Oh," he sighed, "you mean that harlot you favoured over your own family? All I did was start a rumour that the witches were behind a couple of murders."
Glaring at his brother, a muscle in Elijah's jaw ticked. "You knew what she meant to me, Niklaus, and yet you were too callous and uncaring to consider anything more than your own petty needs."
Klaus scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Oh, please, if I stopped to consider every lover you and Rebekah ever had, I would never have been able to move."
Elijah shook his head, turning his gaze from Klaus as he clenched his jaw in irritation, letting out a soft breath when Elena leant into his side, squeezing him around the middle. Taking in another breath to calm himself, he gently squeezed Elena's shoulder where his arm lay, a soft gesture of appreciation, before turning back to Davina and Marcel. "If Céleste is targeting Elena, then it is possible that Kol may be trying to protect her because of the bond Elena and I share. I must confess, I can think of no other reason given their history."
Elena squeezed him again, withdrawing her arm to lay her hand on his chest, rather than around his middle. "There's something I don't understand," she muttered, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, "Céleste died nearly two-hundred years ago, how can she be the one trying to kill me?"
Closing her eyes as the warmth of the shower washed over her, Elena let out a heavy sigh, glad that Klaus's blood had worked, even if it was only temporary. It had given her enough energy to guzzle a few bags of blood, and she was strong enough to stand by herself for enough time that she could take a shower without having to rely on Elijah or Rebekah to help her.
Rinsing the shampoo from her hair, she let out another soft sigh, glad to finally feel clean, even if she wasn't totally convinced it was real. Elijah had told her their scene in her borrow kitchen wasn't real, but she could have been hearing things, she'd attacked Hayley thinking she was Katherine after all, what was to say she hadn't been hearing things then as well.
Their kiss in the plantation house…was that real? He and Klaus had confirmed she'd woken up, so that conversation was real, but had she and Elijah kissed for the first time since she'd gotten her emotions back? Had he really told her he couldn't live without her?
"Elena?" His voice called to her, as though he was able to sense her inner turmoil. "Are you alright?"
"I'm okay." She murmured softly, knowing he'd hear her. "I'm almost done."
"Okay, call me if you need anything." He replied easily, her hearing just about recovered enough to pick up some of his footsteps as he walked away.
Finishing off her shower much more quickly than she'd started, she was done within a few brief minutes, turning off the water quickly and wrapping herself in a towel before walking back into her bedroom. She let out a startled noise when she stumbled suddenly, finding herself landing in Elijah's arms before she could hit the floor.
His face held carefully guarded concern as she met his eyes, stuttering a soft thanks as he righted her, keeping a cautious hold of her until he was sure she was steady on her feet.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, swallowing thickly as he offered a terse smile, "I shouldn't have invaded your privacy; I heard you fall."
"It's okay." Elena whispered, cursing herself when she shivered as he withdrew his arms. "I'd probably have been mad if you'd heard and let me face-plant the floor." She joked, smiling lightly at him, relieved when he returned a similar gesture.
After realising they'd been stood in silence for a few moments, Elijah nodded softly, turning to leave Elena to dress, a call of his name seeing him halt in the doorway.
"How do I tell what's real and what's a dream?"
He turned back to her, frowning. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"I was…dreaming. I was okay, and then I woke up here, and I'm still dying. I know that happened, but the things in between, I don't know what was real and what was fake."
"Would you like to talk about it?" Elijah offered, slipping his hands into the pockets of his trousers as he offered a light shrug. "I'm afraid I don't know of any other solution to weed out dreams versus reality."
Elena nodded, swallowing thickly as she digested his words. She could either live in a constant state of uncertainty, or she could potential embarrass herself by revealing what her sickness had chosen to dredge up for her. She sighed. "We kissed." Her gaze shifted to the floor quickly as Elijah absorbed her words. "In here, and…"
"And?" Elijah probed gently, stepping closer to Elena.
"You told me you couldn't live without me." She admitted softly, her brain struggling to separate the former conversation with the others they'd had in his condo.
Gently taking her face in his hands, Elijah smiled at her softly. "While the sentiment is real, the rest was not." He pressed his lips to her forehead, letting out a soft breath when she shivered under his touch. "You should get dressed, we can continue to talk later."
"You don't look great."
Elena raised an eyebrow at the blonde who sat opposite her, not sure why she felt the need to point out the illness she could feel creeping in.
Rebekah shrugged. "Thought you could do with some honesty around here."
That roused a sharp laugh from Elena, and she shook her head slightly as she laughed. "What is the truth then? Cause it seems pretty simple from where I'm sat, I'm dying and we don't know why or how to fix it."
"That's probably a pretty accurate summary." Rebekah allowed, tilting her head at Elena. "You did leave out one thing though."
Elena sighed, only raising an eyebrow in reply.
"You have a lot of very powerful people fighting your corner, Elena, none of us will let you die."
"Why are you and Klaus helping me?" Elena frowned, rubbing her forehead. "You've both literally killed me in the past."
Rebekah rolled her eyes, waving her hand in dismissal. "That was in the past. You're Elijah's other piece, Elena, that makes you family, despite any past transgressions, and we do anything for family."
"Always and forever." Elena muttered, chewing the inside of her lip. "I'm sorry I daggered you, Rebekah," she said louder, taking a deep breath, "I know I apologized while my emotions were off, but I really do mean it. I guess we were all running scared, with Mikael and Klaus, and I trusted Damon when he said we couldn't rely on you to kill Klaus." Elena sighed, collecting her thoughts as Rebekah nodded slightly, pursed lips giving away her thoughts. "I know it doesn't excuse it," she added, not giving Rebekah the chance to voice her opinions, "but I thought it might make an apology slightly more sincere if I explained myself."
Nodding again, Rebekah offered a soft smile, not having a chance to talk before Elijah entered the lounge, relief lighting his face when saw Elena sat up and talking. Elena smiled at him, shifting to one side of the couch so that he could sit beside her, rather than taking a seat in his armchair as he normally would.
He took hold of her wrist lightly, feeling the beat of her slow heart and wrapping his left arm around her shoulders as she leant into his side.
"How do you feel?" Elijah murmured, releasing her wrist.
"Tired." She sighed. "It's like I can feel the confusion seeping in and taking over my brain."
"Tell me if you feel yourself slipping." Elijah whispered, squeezing her upper arm softly as she nodded, closing her eyes to the sound of Rebekah leaving the room.
They sat in silence for a few moments, Elena just relieved at the calm silence that settled over the room while she allowed herself to draw comfort from Elijah. Taking steady breaths, she focussed on trying to stave off the loss of awareness she could feel affecting her brain.
"What else happened that you're unsure of?" Elijah asked, seeming to sense Elena's need to centre herself and figure out what had happened that was real, and what was fake.
"You came to the condo," Elena murmured, eyes still closed, "I ruined my dinner so you stayed to help me fix it." She let out a soft breath, already sensing what Elijah was going to say.
"Not real, I'm afraid." He whispered, squeezing Elena's shoulder. "It sounds as though it were very pleasant though."
"So, the only thing that was real was waking up and talking to you and Klaus." She muttered, her heart clenching at the firm realisation that Elijah's confession of love had been a figment of her imagination. "Nothing else."
Elijah said nothing for a few moments, only holding Elena as she took several long breaths to collect herself.
"Klaus said you weren't sleeping." She muttered eventually, deciding that it was something that needed to be addressed; she'd done it in her dream, and she had to do it in her reality too.
"It's nothing, Elena." Elijah denied easily, reminding her all too much of the turn their conversation had taken in her dream. "Niklaus is always rather dramatic."
"Be honest with me, Elijah. I need you to be honest with me."
He let out a soft huff of laughter, not meeting Elena's eyes when she sat up and turned to look at him. "I feel as though you've had this conversation before."
She let out a soft breath, taking hold of his hand and squeezing. "In a dream," her voice was a soft whisper and she looked at where she held his hand, bringing it to her lips and just holding it there for a moment, "you need to take care of yourself, Elijah."
"I need to look after you." He argued. "I couldn't leave you, not when you were like that, not even to sleep."
"Rebekah or Klaus could have kept an eye on me for a few hours." Elena pointed out softly, shaking her head. "There are still threats in New Orleans, Elijah, you should have been in a position to take care of yourself."
"What if you had died?" Elijah snapped, his face instantly softening when he realised the tone with which he had spoken to her. "I'm sorry, Elena, but if you had died, at all, let alone if I hadn't been there…" He trailed off, shaking his head slightly. "If I had been able to prevent it and I hadn't been with you, I would not have been able to live with myself."
Elena bit her lip, memories of a conversation that had never been clouding her mind so much that she could hardly think. Previous words clouded her thoughts, leaving her confused as to what had and hadn't been said already. "You can't think like that, Elijah, I'm going to die one day, probably a long time before you, you need to be able to accept that."
"I'm very aware." He uttered, turning to face Elena properly. "Every moment of everyday, since we found out about our bond, I am aware of your vulnerability, and the possibility that you could be taken away before we can ever learn what we are to each other; what we could be. How am I supposed to leave you in this state?"
"It's just life, Elijah, that's what everyone has to do. We have to live our own lives without spending every moment worrying about what could happen." She paused to take a deep breath, staving away the bout of sickness that tried to wash over her. "We need to accept that life isn't pretty and perfect, and fear can't rule us."
"My fear doesn't rule me." Elijah denied easily, shaking his head. "That is not what this is."
"Then what is it?"
"I have lived centuries suppressing any feelings I hold for people who aren't my family, in fear that Niklaus, or one of our enemies, would take them away from me." He let out a soft breath, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and using it to wipe a bead of sweat from Elena's brow. "I refuse to be ruled by that fear any longer, and now I might lose you to sickness, of all things. I don't know how to deal with that."
Elena smiled at him, leaning into his touch. "You have people you can turn to, Elijah, more than ever your siblings are pulling together to help you; let them, lean on them."
HisSecretLover18: Oooooh, super interesting theory, I like that! Thank you so much, I hope you enjoyed this!
Teehee52: Awhh, I'm so sorry! There's plenty of wholesomeness on the way though, don't worry!
Guest: I'm sorry! It was actually such a last minute addition, it wasn't planned out beforehand! I'm definitely going to try my best! Fingers crossed that the NOLA gang will pull through for her!
lauramorgenstern: Awhh, thank you so much! It was pretty last minute so I'm super relieved it came off well!
I'm super thrilled by everyone's reactions to last chapter, and I really look forward to hearing what you all thought of this! Has anyone figured out what Elijah was trying to tell Elena in her dreams? It took me a while to get the wording right, but there was definitely a message hidden in there... Did anyone else think that some of his sentences started off a bit odd for Elijah?
As always, let me know what you all thought! I'm so excited to hear from you all!
Until next time
~ I x