SHE PROMISED ( the originals )

0025. YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME... SERIOUSLY, PLEASE?

SHE PROMISED
( part one, chapter twenty-five )

ELLE WAS DEFINITELY SURPRISED WHEN one of the werewolves had knocked on her door, ordering her to come with him to the cemetery. She barely had time to grab her jacket and keys before she was almost dragged out of her apartment and down the streets of New Orleanian streets.

"So you wanna tell me what the hell is going on?" Elle demanded. "Why do the witches suddenly want me on their team?"

"Shut up," the werewolf hissed and Elle elbowed him harshly in the ribs.

"Hey!" Elle shouted. "I have the right to know why they want to talk to me after literal years of shunning me." She stopped walking, planting her feet.

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do!" She lifted her hand, moving her fingers in a slow motion. "You and I both know the power I have."

It was no secret that Elle Mitchell had power. Her magic always radiated off of her, revealing to others just how much she had in her entire body. But her control of the magic was weak, but no one knew that.

He sighed frustratingly. "Cassie wanted to speak with you, something about you helping her helping you." Cassie as in the last Harvest girl?

Somewhat satisfied with the answer, seeing as this guy was just a pawn in whatever Cassie had planned, Elle nodded and followed after him.

☆ ☆ ☆

Standing in the large lycée, examining the pretty flowers growing alongside on the shelves, Elle called out, "Okay, Cassie, I'm here. What do you want?" She stretched her arms out. "Hmm? I haven't got all day."

Cassie, who had quietly been watching the girl, smiled and approached Elle with her hands behind her back. "I do believe this is the first time I've actually met you," Cassie said. "Face-to-face, I mean. The Elders never wanted any of us associated with you."

"Yeah, well, considering the ex-Elders hated my guts, that's probably the reason." Elle leaned on the table. "So are we here to make up or you want to... help me?"

"I suppose that's one way to put it," Cassie said. "I've heard that when you were young, you had lost your memory."

Elle nodded and crossed her arms. "Not really a secret, but yeah. I'm hella sure that everyone in our coven knows that."

Cassie looked conflicted as to what she might say next, but continued. "I want to... reestablish the relationship you had with the witches," Cassie said.

"How?"

"I'd like to help you retrieve your lost memories." The Mitchell witch's eyes widened. "It'll also tell you why the witches are shunning you."

Elle froze. What Cassie was offering was random, completely out of the blue... "Why are you helping me?" Elle asked. "Why, why would you even consider helping me? I've done nothing but your guts. And why should I even believe you?"

The older girl gave her a kind smile. "We're much more alike than you think, Elle," Cassie said. "I want you by my side. Together, we could do so much good for this city and take back New Orleans. And don't you want to know your past?"

"Well, duh, but 一"

"Then let me help you," Cassie said.

She hesitated before asking, "You said you knew why the witches were shunning me. Tell me, now." It wasn't a question but rather a demand; if she was going to be working with the girl, she should at least know if she was trustworthy.

"It's because of your mother," Cassie said. She moved to sit in one of the many chairs, watching as Elle remained standing. Elle bit her lip hard. "While Stephanie Mitchell was powerful, your birth mother had more than ten times the power of any witch in this city. In her youth, she was revered as one of the greatest witches of her time, but as she grew older, the respect she had gained bloomed into hatred and fear.

"Your mother has inadvertently caused the deaths of hundreds, thousands because she wanted to protect her children," Cassie continued.

Elle wasn't quite sure she wanted to hear the rest of this story. But she had to. "Go on." She gripped her jeans so hard, her knuckles had turned white.

"She cursed your brothers and sister with powers no human was meant to have, to forever walk the earth as creatures of darkness." Cassie's eyes grew sad. "But when she realized her mistake, it was too late. So in order to protect you, she sent you into a deep sleep; and when you woke up, the curse would be undone and you could all live out your lives normally."

"You're lying," Elle whispered. There were tears in her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks. She had connected the dots almost immediately, but she couldn't believe it. "That woman is not my mother."

"But she is, Elle." Cassie stood, hands clasped behind her. "Please, think about it. Why else would these witches hate you? You're the daughter of a witch who had practically created dark magic, and you hold more magic in your pinky finger than most witches do in this entire city." She took a step closer. "Haven't you wondered that, Elle? Why you hold so much power? It's because you've slept for a thousand years, letting that magic grow and build up inside of you.

"The New Orleans witches hate you because of your mother, because of your power."

"No," Elle said, her voice barely above a whisper. "No, if they knew who my mother was, then why didn't they tell me? How did they know?" She pressed her hands against her chest, as if it would stop the pounding beat.

"Who else would have that much power?" Cassie asked redundantly. "Someone who has lived for centuries. To feel so much power flowing through your body, it wasn't very difficult to determine who you were. And if they told you, they assumed you'd be just like your mother: creating another devasting curse that would kill thousands."

The voice in the back of her head, which she sometimes nicknames Little Delia, was screaming at her. DON'T LISTEN TO HER, the voice said, SHE'S LYING! SHE'S OUT TO GET YOU! And there was small part of her that believed it. She couldn't trust the New Orleans witches or Cassie for that matter without any proof. For all she knew, Cassie was just pulling the wool over her eyes and playing a sick, cruel joke on her.

"Then prove it."

Cassie, who'd been quietly watching Elle mull over the information, blinked. "What?"

"You said..." she started, raising a shaking finger, "you said you could help me get back my memories. You said you wanted to help me."

"I do," Cassie said. "I still do."

"Then prove it," Elle repeated once more. "Give me back my memories."

A/N: y'all, we're almost done
with season 1 and i'm so hyped