"Elena. There's someone I want you to meet."
Elena turned to look out the window at Klaus's words, raising an eyebrow at him when she saw the car pulling into the driveway to the plantation house. "You know Rebekah and I have met before, right? Several times actually."
Klaus threw an exasperated look in her direction, stepping out of the house and onto the drive.
Rebekah got out of the car, looking between him and the house behind him. "Are you sure about this, Nik? I can get back in the car and leave."
He exhaled, unusually slow and controlled before nodding, a short, sharp movement. "I'm sure. I never though I'd say this, but Kol is right. We have to end this."
Rebekah returned his nod, walking to the back of the car and opening the door.
Elena watched curiously as Rebekah leant into the car, fiddling with something for a few moments before emerging again, cradling a small child in her arms.
Klaus smiled at the child before turning his attention back to the house, his eyes meeting Elena's as she stepped onto the porch. "Elena," he said softly, "this is Hope, my daughter."
"You have got to be kidding me." Elena growled, glaring at the man in front of her. "She's alive? She didn't die?"
"Rebekah found Hayley's body soon enough after the attack, Hope was still kicking, with a little help, she got out unscathed."
"Help? What help?" She probed, her voice low and dark, her eyes narrowing as Klaus looked at the people behind her. "Bonnie and Davina? Caroline? Marcel? That help?"
"Elena-"
A look from Klaus stopped Caroline talking quite effectively as Elena stalked towards him, Rebekah automatically taking a step back with Hope.
"I'm not going to hurt her!" Elena snapped, glaring at Rebekah. "I would never." With a final glare at Klaus, Elena shot past the siblings, intent on leaving the plantation house without looking back.
She was pulled to an abrupt halt by Klaus grabbing her arm, spinning on him furiously he let go of her, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture.
"Elena-"
"You knew! All of you knew this entire time!" She hissed, glaring at him.
"I told them not to speak a word of it." He rushed his words, breaking in before she could continue. "Don't be mad at your friends."
"I'm not mad at them!" She snarled, shoving him in the chest. "I'm mad at you, you ass!"
Taken aback by her sudden aggression, Klaus stumbled back a step, bracing his stance when she flew at him again.
"After everything I told you! You know! You know what all of their deaths does to me!" She shoved him again, battering his chest furiously when he didn't move. "How could you not tell me?"
Again she shoved him, glaring at him and trying to yank her hands free when he grabbed her wrists, holding her arms still despite her attempts to continue hitting him.
"Let go of me." She snapped, her voice rising to the closest it had come to a shout. "Klaus, let go of me!"
"Stop." He said firmly, moving his grip to the top of her arms to try and shake some sense back into her. "Elena, stop."
She stilled, glaring at him for a few silent moments before attempting to walk past him, thrashing in his hold when he grabbed her around the waist, holding her tightly against him.
"Elena," he murmured, holding her tightly, "stop and think about this."
Elena fought against him still, hitting him in the chest again when he managed to turn her around, wrapping her tightly against him.
"She nearly died, Elena, I had to keep her safe." He whispered in her ear, refusing to let her do anything other than listen to him. "Not from you, but from anyone who would hurt her. The Hollow was in your head, Elena, I have no idea how much of a hold she has on your thoughts, on your memories. I had to protect my daughter. I am sorry, Elena, but she is worth so much more than resolving an amount of pain."
"Why now?" She asked, feebly beating at his chest. "You didn't care about saving my pain last week, why now?"
"I have to take this risk now, we have to end the Hollow." Klaus said firmly, burying a hand in her hair as she calmed in his grasp. "She has to die, Elena. She has to. For hope, for Hayley...for Elijah. I've brought Hope back here to end this, but we need you too, Elena. I need your help with this. Please."
Elena drew herself out of his hold, meeting his eyes and staring at him for several, long, drawn, silent moments, before she drew her hand back and slapped him in a swift movement.
Letting out a sigh, Klaus rubbed his cheek, turning his face back to Elena and raising an eyebrow. "Are you done now?"
Elena didn't reply, pursing her lips and folding her arms over her chest as she looked to her side.
"You still haven't actually met Hope." Klaus pointed out, folding his arms over his chest to mimic her. "You should."
"Why do you care if I meet her?" Elena asked, turning back to face Klaus, a deep frown creasing her face. "What on Earth does it matter if I meet your daughter or not?"
Klaus sighed, long and low as he searched for the right words. "Despite what happened to Elijah; I…you're family, Elena, through him you are our family now. You were always destined to be. I know we've had our differences," he ignored Elena's scoff, "but I do take family seriously, love, particularly the soulmate kind."
Elena avoided his gaze when he offered a smile, flicking her eyes anywhere other than in his direction.
"Hope, my daughter, is your niece, Elena, for all intents and purposes, she, and we, are your family. That's why I think you should meet her."
"Are you sure about this, Nik?" Rebekah paced back and forth across the room, picking at her lip, an old nervous habit she'd never quite lost. "This is a big risk."
"We don't have a choice." Klaus muttered, cradling the baby in his arms. "The Hollow cannot be allowed to live, not in this city, not in this world. We have to deal with her. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is with Hope's blood."
"She's so precious," Rebekah mused, pausing in her pacing to gaze at the small child her brother held, "I wish there was a way to keep her away from all of this, from any harm that may ever find her."
Smiling, Klaus looked up at her, catching her staring at Hope intently. "So do I, more than anything, but we have to do this to even begin to keep her safe. Despite how awful it is."
The two siblings lapsed into silence for a moments, the only sounds in the room being Hope's soft breathing and the fluttering of her heartbeat, both calm and steady as she slept.
"Do you trust her?" Rebekah asked eventually, banishing the calm that had settled over the room.
"I never thought I would, but I do." He nodded, a soft laugh escaping him at the thought. "I trust her completely right now, Rebekah. She's broken, and she's hurt, and she is grieving in a way that I don't think we will ever understand…but that anger, that need for revenge; to stop this happening to anyone else, we can trust her to do this."
Rebekah nodded slowly, sinking into the armchair opposite her brother. "I can't believe he's gone, Nik. Really dead and gone."
"I thought for sure he would outlast all of us." Klaus agreed, letting out a sigh. "We need to decide what to do with him, we can't just keep his body in his coffin in the basement forever."
"We could bury him, somewhere secluded, away from everyone else."
"His body can't continue to exist." Klaus negated softly, shaking his head. "If any of our enemies caught wind of this and got their hands on the body of an Original…" He trailed off, the implications not needing to be said out loud.
Rebekah didn't say anything, letting out a low and long exhale, words failing her for a few moments. "I still don't like her, but she should be involved. Elijah would want her involved."
Klaus huffed, knocking on the door again, more insistent, and slightly harder than intended. "I know you're in there!" He called, knocking again with both fists in quick succession to each other. "Open the door, or I will break the lock!"
Rapping on the door again, he huffed when she still didn't answer, taking the doorknob in his hand and snapping the lock easily.
"Make yourself decent, Gilbert, I'm coming in."
Pushing the door open, Klaus stopped in his tracks, his eyes darting around the rooms in front of him, quickly surveying and cataloguing the damage he could see. The hallway itself was scarcely touched, but what he could see of the lounge and the kitchen told a different story. Broken and fractured pieces of furniture littered the floors, pieces of the counter in the kitchen were broken off, dust settled on the floor, pieces of broken china resting both on top and below the fine powder.
The only thing that seemed to remain whole in the lounge was the couch, a pot of coffee and a mug sat beside it, contrasting with the chaos of everything else he could see. As he stepped further into the lounge he could see that the television remained intact, sitting on the floor in the middle of the wreckage of the rest of the room.
Wrenching his attention away from his surroundings, his gaze finally locked onto Elena slumped on the couch.
"Dammnit." He muttered, appearing by Elena's side in less than a blink of an eye. "What the hell have you done?" He grasped her face in both hands, lifting her head up and grimacing at the grey tint her skin had began to take on.
She stirred vaguely, grunting and attempting to swat at his hand. Rolling his eyes at her attempt, he sat her back upright, pulling her forward and checking over her back, his brows drawing into a frown when he continued to catalogue no injuries.
"Elena?" He said firmly, a snap leeching into his voice as he gently slapped her round the face, trying to rouse her back around. "What happened?"
"Noth'n' 'app'n'd." She slurred, screwing her eyes shut and trying to turn away from him. "Lea' me 'lone."
She slumped against his hold, Klaus huffing again, and readjusting his grasp on her as he sat on the couch beside her, turning her limp body so her back fell against his front.
Elongating his fangs, Klaus bit into the soft flesh of his wrist, tearing the skin open and pressing the bleeding wound against Elena's lips. She drank greedily for a few brief moments, before ripping her fangs from his wrist and turning her head away.
"Stop it." She muttered, her words clearer, but her voice still slurred and weak.
"What happened?" Klaus asked again, putting more emphasis on his words this time.
She groaned, trying to pull away from him; frustrated when she couldn't. "Nothing, I told you." She muttered eventually.
"This place is destroyed." Klaus said pointedly. "And you were desiccating, that doesn't just happen, Elena."
"Does if you let it." She mumbled, realising a beat too late that her sarcastic remark was actually leaving her mouth.
"Excuse me?" Klaus bit out, feeling Elena stiffen against him. "When was the last time you had blood, Elena?"
She opened her mouth to respond, pausing when Klaus started talking again.
"I swear to God, if you say just now."
Elena snapped her mouth shut, her lips drawing into a soft pout.
"Elena." He prompted, his jaw clenching when she said nothing.
She shrugged slightly, a miniscule moment due to the lasting weakness of her body. "The day I left the plantation house."
Taking in a deep breath, Klaus allowed her to move forward on the couch, turning to look at him, her skin returned to its normal pallor.
"What on Earth were you thinking?" He snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Answer me."
"She drank from him." Elena mumbled eventually, sluggishly drawing her knees up to her chest. "She knew my body was too weak to overpower him, even if she caught him off guard, so she manipulated him and drank him nearly dry so that he was weak enough." Her voice took on a slightly robotic tone as she spoke, her gaze focussed on a random spot on the floor so that she didn't have to look at Klaus. "I-I can't, not without thinking about that."
Klaus's features softened as he stared at the doppelganger, his hand coming to rest over hers. "I understand, Elena, I do, but you can't do this. Elijah wouldn't want this." He swallowed, a lump in his throat growing as he thought of his brother. "He loved you, and he wouldn't be able to bear this."
"I can't bear this." Elena returned, tears blossoming in her eyes. "I've dampened my emotions with this attempt at turning the switch off again, and I can still hardly breath. I can't bear this life anymore, Klaus."
"You have to try."
godric777: Thank you! :)
HisSecretLover18: Yay! Oooh, not sure about Bennett magic, Kol's plan is still a little unfleshed at the moment, but we'll see where we end up! Thank you! I hope you enjoyed!
yellowbessie: All of these chapters are pretty poor Elena at the moment :( We'll have to wait and see, but my stories do generally have a way of working this out...
QueenAsura: I'm so glad you love it, that's amazing to hear! Sorry you had to wait longer than normal!
lauramorgenstern: We love Kol!
Guest: He is! I'm excited to write him in more! I can't wait to write Elena kicking some witch ass, I'm so excited to write it all, and more so for you guys to get to read it all! Ahhh I love hearing that, thank you so much! Always excited about the chefs kisses! Thank you! :)
This chapter got a little longer than usual, but I'm sure none of you will complain! I promise, the intense angst will be over soon! Review and tell me what you all thought! I love hearing back from you all!
Until next time
~ I x