"It's a trap the Hollow won't be able to resist."
"I won't put her in danger."
"She won't be." Kol said firmly, shaking his head. "A drop of her blood, mixed with magic from the right bloodline and we'll be able to create a simulation of Hope that Inadu won't realise is fake until it's too late." He explained. "Hope won't have to be anywhere near it."
"Then what?" Elena asked, bouncing her leg absently as they spoke. "How do we kill her?"
Kol met her eyes, arms folded over his chest. "You're dead, but your blood still has plenty of mystical properties. If we mix a larger quantity of your blood with a few drops of Hope's, the properties of yours will allow all of the blood to act as a weapon against the Hollow."
"Then?" She prompted.
"We can bind the blood to a dagger, with the addition of the blood the dagger with kill her like it would any human."
Elena nodded, her leg stilling for the first time since they'd gathered.
"The only question is who deals the final blow." Kol shrugged, placing his hands on the back of Davina's armchair and leaning against it.
"Me." Elena said firmly, raising her head to meet the gaze of anyone who decided to argue with her. "I'm the one to kill her."
"Klaus said you wanted to talk to me."
Rebekah looked up at her, closing the book she held and setting it aside, gesturing for Elena to step into the room. "Come on, shut the door behind you."
Hesitating for a moment, Elena took a breath, letting it out in a huff before stepping into Elijah's study, pulling the door shut behind her. "What is it?"
"Nik is making an effort to include you in this family on Elijah's behalf." Rebekah sighed, perching on the edge of the desk. "We have our differences, Elena, but Elijah is the one thing all of us can agree on."
"Could." Elena muttered, looking at the floor.
"Can." Rebekah emphasised. "We all love him, that hasn't changed because of what the Hollow did to him. Just because she killed him doesn't mean we care any less." She cleared her throat, huffing slightly. "He drove me mad, but he was my big brother, and I know he would always have bent over backwards for me. So this is my version of bending over backwards for him."
Elena's gaze flickered upwards, her eyes meeting with the blonde's for a brief moment before she turned her gaze back to the floor. "The switch makes you see everything differently." She murmured eventually, ignoring the weight of Rebekah's gaze at the change in topic. "It's like the rose tinted glasses are lifted, and finally you can see things clearly; things you didn't even realise were blurred."
Rebekah folded her arms over her chest, tilting her head at the girl in front of her, her brow furrowed slightly as she tried to figure out what Elena was getting at.
"That night…I was going to give your necklace back; I really did feel for you, for what your family had done to you. And then I drove a dagger into your back instead." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I've been trying to add up the two ideas in my mind ever since I turned it off, where I got the idea? When I decided I was going to dagger you instead of accept your help. The only thing I remember is Damon telling me you couldn't be trusted to go through with it."
Rebekah snorted. "You always put too much stock in what Damon had to say."
"Not then I didn't." Elena denied, shaking her head. "I thought we argued about it that day, but somehow it got in my head, and I daggered you instead."
"You think he compelled you?" Rebekah frowned. "You would have remembered when you transitioned if he did."
"Not if he never compelled me to forget. If he planted the idea strongly enough that it was compulsion without sounding like it…" She sighed again, shaking her head and looking at Rebekah. "Either way, I'm genuinely sorry. And, thank you, for reaching out on his behalf. I know we don't get along, and I don't know if we'll ever be friends, but we can try."
"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Caroline whispered, shifting slightly where she crouched, hidden behind a low cut wall.
"It's a bit late to be doubting it now." Klaus hissed from across the room, doing his best to ignore the apparition of him rocking Hope in the centre of the room.
Elena rolled her eyes, knife clenched firmly in her hand. Noticing Kol watching her she raised an eyebrow at him.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" He murmured, soft enough that Caroline had no hope of hearing him.
"I won't hesitate, if that's what you're worried about." She returned, steeled eyes looking back at him. "Not for one second."
Kol held her gaze evenly for a few long moments, searching for anything other than sincerity in her features. He nodded when he found the answer he was looking for, turning his attention back to the apparition in the centre of the room.
"She has taken everything from me, Kol, every last ounce I had." She said softly, twirling the knife in between her fingers. "I will take her life from her, and I will make her feel every agonizing second of it. I won't hesitate, and I won't change my mind."
"Good." He returned, not bothering to turn and look at her. "She killed my brother any of us would be willing to take the job off of your hands if you don't feel up to it."
"It's not a job to kill her, Kol, it's a pleasure. It's only a job to have to wait."
"I knew you were feistier than you seemed."
Elena's brows drew into a frown at the voice, it was feminine, but definitely not Caroline, and something so slightly rung familiar about it. She turned slowly, feeling Kol mimic her movement behind her, drawing in a slow breath when her eyes landed on Inadu.
The witch smirked at Elena, watching as she and Kol stood, almost in unison. "There's something beautifully cold about you, Elena," she murmured, walking past Elena and Kol to the centre of the room, waving a hand to dismiss the mirage of Klaus and Hope, "I feel privileged to have brought it out in you."
Elena clenched her jaw, turning on the spot to follow Inadu's movement around the room. Keeping a deliberately blank expression, she catalogued the bodies of Klaus and Caroline crumpled on the floor. Noting the distinct lack of grey skin, she turned her full attention back to Inadu.
"You must be Inadu." Kol spoke up, breaching into the conversation, trying to calm the bubbling atmosphere between the two, as he surely also noticed the blonde bodies behind her. "We haven't had the displeasure of meeting yet."
"You assume it will be a displeasure?" Inadu tilted her head at him. "As you say, we've not met."
"You murdered my brother, and my niece's mother, I would be incredibly surprised if it was in anyway a pleasure."
Inadu only smiled, watching as Kol stepped out in front of Elena, the latter flexing her hand around the handle of the blade she held.
"Tell me, who really is the psychotic black sheep of the family? You, or Niklaus?" She folded her hands behind her back, looking at Kol curiously. "Everyone knows Elijah was the noble one of the family, but you and Niklaus are both regarded as the psychotics of the family. Who really is?"
Kol returned her smirk. "If you have to ask, then it's clear you haven't met us."
Lunging at the witch, Kol disappeared from Elena's view for a moment, moving much quicker than her eyes were able to follow. She caught sight of him again a second later as he landed in a heap on the other side of the room. In a swift movement, he was back on his feet, the veins under his eyes pulsing and a growl escaping him as he launched himself back at Inadu.
Elena found herself slipping into a soft crouch, her knees bending and her legs tensing in preparation to enter the fray herself, looking for the right opportunity to bury the knife she held in Inadu's back. Cringing at the sound of bones snapping as Inadu used her magic to cripple Kol's body, Elena steeled herself, locking her eyes onto the target in front of her.
Picking her moment, she lunged forward, burying the knife in Inadu's back, or trying to. She wasn't sure what happened, probably never would be. Somehow, in the time between her lunge and arriving at Inadu's back, Kol had been thrown across the room, landing in a disgruntled, broken heap next to his brother, and Inadu had spun to face Elena, a wave of magic sending the doppelganger flying backwards; the knife in her hand barely grazing the witch.
Elena crashed through a section of the wall, landing in the rubble with a groan and a gust of dust surrounding her. Releasing another pained noise, she rolled onto her stomach, crawling towards the knife that had been thrown from her hand.
Picking up the blade, she grunted, flexing her fingers as they healed, bones knitting back together quickly. Pushing herself up, she swiftly rose to her feet, standing and facing Inadu with narrowed eyes.
"Did you really think I would fall for that?" She asked, frowning at Elena, something that looked vaguely like disappointment on her face. "We've been inside each other's heads, Elena, you can't have really thought that would work?"
"Call me an optimist." Elena quipped, her hand clenching around the knife she held involuntarily.
Inadu laughed, taking a step towards the doppelganger, both of them ignoring the sound of Kol's bones cracking and popping as they moved back into place, fusing together slowly. "Optimism didn't help Elijah, did it?"
"Don't say his name." Elena spoke so fast her words almost crossed over Inadu's, her voice soft, but firm. "Don't you dare."
"Is that a sensitive subject still?"
Unseen by Inadu, Kol lunged at her again, this time getting a hand on her and wrenching one of her shoulders from the socket. Screeching, Inadu threw her other arm across the room, sending Kol flying yet again, taking her opportunity, Elena bolted across the room, landing a blow with the knife to Inadu's back, the blade sinking in smoothly.
As quickly as she had landed the blow, Elena found herself frozen in place, unable to move save for her eyes. Turning her vision, she watched as Inadu balled her hand into a fist; a grunt coming from Kol as she broke all of the bones in his body, as easily as crumpling a piece of paper.
Dragging her gaze away from the writhing Original, Elena watched as Inadu turned to face her, pulling the knife out of her own back with thin, irritated lips. "That wasn't very nice." She muttered reproachfully, turning her withering glare on the knife in her hand.
Screaming at every muscle in her body, Elena willed them to move; to do anything other than just stand there as Inadu turned the blade – their only hope – into dust.
Brushing her hands against each other, Inadu watched the dust fall to the floor with a small, satisfied smile on her lips. Taking a deep breath, she rolled her shoulder, the soft pop signifying the joint slipping back into place.
She turned to Elena, a cruel smiling lining her face. "Now that's dealt with," she snapped her fingers, a muffled grunt leaving Elena as her legs snapped under her, her still restrained body falling to the floor in a graceless heap, "I get to have some fun."
godric777: Thank you :)
StellaBaby: You're very welcome! Thank you so much! I love writing angst, I don't know what it is! To hear that makes me so happy! Klaus and Elena have kind of emerged in their own way, which I wasn't fully anticipating, but I'm so glad it's well received! Some Elena and Bekah bonding in here, although it was a last minute addition! Thank you!
HisSecretLover18: It's only getting more intense from here... Yes! The Klena friendship is developing so organically in my mind, I'm glad you're liking it! Hope you enjoyed!
Guest: Ahh, I'm so glad! I've really enjoyed writing them the last few chapters, and I'm so relieved you enjoy reading it just as much! Elena's going through a lot, I think she just needs a hot minute! Yay, I'm so glad! Love the chefs kisses!
Guest: Sorry! It happens all by itself I swear! Yes, Klaus stepping up like that blindsided me a bit, but I couldn't let go of it after I thought it up! Yes, I'm so here for Hope and Elena! That might be a move for a sequel... Stuff's getting real with the Hollow, we'll have to wait and see what happens!
lauramorgenstern: In the least sadistic way possible, that was totally my intention, and I'm so glad it paid off! The relationships are honestly doing their own thing all the time, but I'm so glad you're loving it as much as my crazy mind is! Oh, we hope it will be sweeter!
yellowbessie: Yes! I debated over adding that line or not, but I'm glad you noticed his little quip and enjoyed it! I'm really getting the chance to build on all these relationships, and it's great that you guys are enjoying them! I miss our favourite stuffy dude too :( I promise I'm working on it!
QueenAsura: Thank you so much! I'm here to satiate your cravings as long as my muse allows!
Phew, so this chapter was originally nearly 3700 words! Around double my normal chapter length! So, it's been chopped in half, and the lovely Elena/Rebekah scene was able to be added in, and I'm excited to hear what you all thought of it! That's also the reason for this intense cliffy! I was debating leaving this cliffhanger originally and adding the Bekah/Elena scene, but my hubby disagreed and told me to go for the other ending...2000 words later, I've had to split it down anyway!
But! Do you know what that means? I have the resolution to this chapter primed and ready to go when you all say the word, and trust me, you don't want to miss it!
I genuinely cannot wait to hear from you all this time round, I look forward to it more than ever!
Until next time
~ I x