Meeting old friends, usually this goes as follows: hugs and kisses upon meeting, sitting down and laughing at old memories, catching up on all manners of gossip. Flash forward to what was actually happening. Elliot and Valentina on one side of the table, a glass of red in each of their hands as they clutched each others other hand under the table and Annie sat on the other side remaining motionless waiting for one of them to make the first mood. Awkward silence filling the room with each member of the parties shoulder up in the sky with tension. Valentina swallowed a large gulp of the wine making an audible gulp, the click of the glass on the table as it was rested. The noise of Elliots foot tapping on the floor in anxiety.
"So Alex's spell worked?" Anna spoke after taking a big long sigh.
"Yeah pointed me in the direction of a family crypt in Poland, told me to recite this spell and one of Vee's ghosty ancestors appeared. Once I was able to channel her I could use that to wake her and reset the blood link." Alex explained, holding Valentina's hand comfortingly.
"Yep, no uncontrollable expression magic, no physical and emotional torment from dear old ma and pa. Obviously will only stay that way until someone lets the ancestors in one my locations but...for now" Vee added weakly smiling at the table. "Its nice being in contact with my brother again too, thanks.."
"Thats great...really good" Anna retorted. And the table went back to silence. The screech of knives and forks on china plates as the trio ate in silence. "Really lovely food, made it yourself Vee?" Anna spoke trying to make conversation
"Didn't know you were coming, had to wip up something quickly." Vee replied taking a bit of the Chicken Parmesan.
"Didn't know I was coming either, it was a last minute plan. I -"
"Let me guess, you need something" Elliot rolled his eyes already knowing what Annie was going to say. He scoffed when Anna simply silently confirmed this, pushing her hair out of the way realising the uncomfortable tension that was in the air.
"I need you to sever my humanity" Anna clarified. "Not turn it off, but do that spell you were attempting to create for the better half of the 19th century when I was causing mania and make it so I cannot turn it off, bring all my human emotions to the surface. Make it so I don't have this uncontrollable rage"
"That spell has never been performed successfully, It killed all the test subjects I used- it will" Vee began to explain shaking her head.
"And if you can't make it so I am cured from this red blood thirsting rage then the world will be a better place anyway" Anna finished taking a bite of her dinner and washing it down by finishing the last gulp of wine.
...
"I can't do this Elliot. Its going to kill her" Vee spoke quietly to her boyfriend as she was grinding up herbs looking throw the doorway at Anna who was fiddling with their record player and swaying to the music.
"So, one less problem for us" Elliot whispered back.
"Can you have a heart. There was a time you loved her, a time not to long ago. Don't be cruel."
"Don't be cruel. She is the reason I had to carry you around in a coffin for five years. Why you went throw months of mental torture. Why is it so bad I will be happy at the prospect of that women either being dead to the world or -"
"Not have the vampire tendencies to kill, maim and torture everything within site" Valentina spoke, thinking back to a younger version of her who had this miracle solution to the mental turmoil vampires had.
"Look I have all faith in you Vee, but I don't know how much I believe ins this bring Annies human emotions back. I'm a vampire I don't kill everything. She's trying to put her psychotic actions down to something that's out of control to take the blame off her. She needs better self control" Elliot whispered back.
"You've been a vampire for three decades, she's been a vampire for 100." Vee replied harshly her voice raising to normal volume now. "Its been so long since she was human and she's turned off her humanity so many times she's lost that part of herself. This spell should in theory help her find it, break the cycle. But its never been done, its going to kill her and no matter what she's done to me, I won't kill her."
"Elliot, can I have a moment with Vee" Anna spoke from the doorway. When Elliot raised his eyebrows with no intention of budging. "Elliot your going to listen to it all with vampire hearing, you have full rein to knock me out when and if I attack her. But from the other room-" She commanded. Vee smiled slightly before encouraging Elliot out of the room. "I need you to do this spell for me Vee'
"Didn't realise in five years you'd become suicidal" Vee glared at her friend.
"You've missed a lot. Daggered, prophecies, brainwashed, killing, family - "
"Then talk to me, Tell me your problems and I'll tell you mine. You'd know I'd always keep you safe" Vee spoke grabbing onto her friends hands on holding them tightly.
"You can't save me from myself." Anna spoke harshly. "I'm a ticking time bomb, and I don't even have the trigger...." Anna spoke sarcastically shaking her head in despair. "Plus all the hell I've put you through, lets not put something else on that tally"
"You know I don't hold grudges"
"You should" Anna spoke harshly mainly annoyed at herself with everything thats gone on.
"We are not the same people when darkness takes over. I don't blame you for your actions, as I hope you don't blame me for all the times I too have gone off the rails"
"Thats all well and good, but now I defiantly don't have any control, the darkness is here and it's not letting up" Anna spoke. "The Strix have control over my mind my actions, they say the world jump and I say how high."
"Then let me break the spell-" The witch began anger flashing through her eyes at the thought of her friend being controlled.
"Then we are back to square one. I live with the torture of my actions all the time, live with the devil on my shoulder telling to feed and kill the person I bumped into one the street. I don't want to hurt anyone but the vampire defeats my better judgement every single time. I want a release" Anna begun, tears falling down her face. "I need a release, I need peace. Being a vampire isn't the problem, I don't even mind having to feed of people, its the rage and the monster inside that wants me to not only feed but tear their intestines out one by own, who smiles at the sounds of their screams, the screams of women, children, innocent people. I don't even realise until its two late..."
Valentina stood in silence her own eyes filling with tears as she watched her friend in pain. All she could think to do is pull her friend into a force of a hug softly stroking Annies hair, telling her over and over she'll help her and do the spell.
...
"So lets go through the plan one more time" Vee recited walking around Anna who lay on the floor in a circle of branches and witchy herbs with Alex watching on. Valentina was clearly stressed, the intensity of her walk getting more powerful by the second.
"You put me to sleep. Once I'm asleep using our connection to the physical world...The photo of all three of us from the 70s that Alex is holding" Anna began looking up from her position at her friend, on cue Alex held up the polaroid in between his index and thumb. "You and Alex will enter my head and attempt to find my human anchor. Once you find that you can break what stands in the way of it and reciting your latin you should be able to leave my head getting off scoff free before I wake up back in this very room. Free from strix control and free from the rage."
"Exactly, easy as pie..." Vee spoke shaking. She knelt at Anna's head holding her index fingers on Anna's temple and reciting a spell in latin. She chanted as Anna's eyes got heavy slowly falling into an unconscious state. Once she knew Annie was asleep she relaxed her fingers and shoulder, holding her palm out for Elliot to take.
"This going to hurt Vee?" Elliot spoke unsure.
"Not if I do it right.." Vee added, once Elliot joined her, grabbing on tightly to Valentina's hand. The witch began chanting, the room became to darken, wind blowing the books of the shelves, and the apartment window to open with a bang, leaves blew in. Elliot looked taken aback but Valentina wasn't stopping, her chanting got louder and soon enough the vampire and witch fell unconscious to the floor, their hands still interlinked.
...
It took a moment for Elliot and Valentina to open their eyes, the place was unfamiliar. Of course it was, it was Annies mental scape. But the place felt cold the smell of disease feeling their senses. This couldn't be real, it was Anna's mind, that what they had to tell one another as they grabbed ahold of each other and standing up on their own two feet. They were in a town house, the room was fairly quiet but they could see noises, two male voices. Elliot shushed with his finger to his lips, not realising that they weren't really there. He grabbed ahold of a diary that was placed on the wooden table in the middle of the room, the date was on the top handwritten in cursive: 2nd September 1666.
"The great fire..." Valentina spoke knowingly. "Me and Annie were in London, I was enrolled with expression magic, necrophilia, Anna had her humanity off. It was a dark time for us"
"Why are we here though" Elliot questioned, shaking the notebook in his hand. It was Vee's turn to shush Elliot as she beckoned him over to the doorway where they could get a glimpse of the voices. The were two men figures standing in the kitchen of the townhouse. One wearing a dusty old apron cowering into the corner of the stove. The other stood intimately pointing into the old man's chest. It was a familiar voice, one cold and unloving.
"You sent word to me that the young original and dark art witch were here in town. Yet I have been here for weeks and not a pep, how can a monster of the night and the devil witch get away from me!" The voice screamed into the man's face. That voice belonged to none other than Mikael Mikaelson who looked enraged, seething with anger.
"I--I never said the witch was here. Only the beast. I don't know a witch I promise sir-" The baker cried. Mikael grunting with a huff waiting for more answers. "The beast is across in West London, you'll find her there." The baker squeaked out in fear of his life. Mikael soon turned away pushing over pots and pans throwing them to the floor as he went. Once he was in the clear, Valentina and Elliot watched as a feminine figure came out of the shadows.
" Well done Mr Faryno, you took deceiving your master in your stride. A man after my own heart" Anna Mikaelson spoke. She was dressed in her 17th century dress wooshing across the bakery floor.
"You threatened my children, Mikael never threatened innocent children" The baker spoke annoyed at the girl.
"He may not have threatened them but he would have ended their life as soon as you had ceased of use to him. I may be a monster sir but at least I am honest" Anna hummed, picking apart one of the bakers freshly baked bread and munching on it.
"I'll go back and tell Mikael all about your witch devil. She's doing ungodly things across East London, telling Mikael about her will save our city, and I will gladly be the one to help aid in her destruction"
Anna flashed forward to the baker, pushing him against the stove. "Sir I am a patient women, I give many a second chance. But you and I have a deal, Mikael does not get word of that witches identity or location no matter how much he pays or threatens your or I will do far worse things to you, your family and your livelihood, you have my word." Anna snarled out her vampire fangs poking out. The baker tried pushing the girl away but he was of no success. Without realising what was happening the baker's tea towel was pushed against the stove and was engulfed in flames. The flame grew and grew, it was burning the arm of the baker but Anna still wouldn't let him up. Eventually after she grew tired of her intimidation tactics, she released him. He turned to the fire quickly putting it out with water. As soon as the fire was out he turned around the face the original but she was gone.
"What the hell?" Elliot questioned after watching the seen. Present Valentina stood watching the scene as the baker tidied up. "The great fire of London"
"Why here why now. Whats this got to do with Anna's anchor...." Valentina spoke confused not answering the bewildered Elliots questions.
....
Elliot and Valentina were now transported to another flashback of Anna's memory. There were in a grand parlour that neither of them recognised sometime in the alter 19th century given the furniture. They were interpreted by a barrel of laughs and conversations coming through the door, that revealed a dashing human Damon and Stefan Salvatore as well as Anna and the doppelgänger Katherine. The four sat around a laid out table, Anna perched on Stefan's knee giggling as Stefan played with her hair twirling it around his finger. Damon and Katherine sat opposite each other flirting and giggling.
"You are a master of games Katherine" Anna spoking nodding her head approvingly at Katherine. "But a teacher can still be bested by the pupil. Stefan and I clearly one that game of what you call football" Anna spoke narrowing her eyes playfully at the doppelgänger.
"Is that a duel for a second game Anna Mikaels?" Katherine challenged, picking up her tea and taking a sip of it.
"Ladies, ladies" Damon spoke defusing the fake tension going along with the girls game.
"Oh I'll play nice don't worry handsome" Katherine spoke smiling. "Nice, like that gurus item of jewellery Anna is displaying on a certain finger?" Katherine knowingly questioned. Anna tried to hide hr hand blushing profusely with Stefan nuzzling into her neck before taking his own seat. Damon and a flash of shock and betrayal across his face watching his brother and his brother girl smile like a lovesick puppy.
"Oh how I could I forget, I'll be joining your family Mr Salvatore. If you'll have me." Anna spoke smiling fondly at the memory of Stefan proposing and becoming a Salvatore. "Stefan and I have already sorting the formalities out, we will get married in the village church in Spring and then get the boat to the European isle to start our lives together. I have family in the English court and since I have sent word of the proposal they cannot wait to meet my husband"
"You'll be leaving brother?" Damon questioned
"Well you'll be going back to fight on the front lines, and I have little interest in carrying out Fathers work on the plantation. English court might suit our new family" Stefan replied holding onto Anna's hand and squeezing fondly, speaking to his brother whilst his eyes remained on his future bride.
As the two were encapsulated with each other Katherine waved the butler over, indicating for him to fill Anna's tea cup with fresh tea. The butler obliged, whilst he was doing this Anna made contact with the butlers wrist that had a very familiarly pyramid tattoo. The coloured ran from the originals face, a murderous glint the the vampires eye. She picked up her butter knife without even realising what she was doing and charged it into the butlers carotid watching the butler fall dead on the dinning room table. Stefan stood back shock, Damon too leaving the two vampires sat at the table glaring at each other.
"Why Katherine" Anna spoke her voice deathly low.
"You just killed - " Damon spoke very confused. Stefan knew what she was, knew what she was capable off but his face would still take some understanding. Katherine stood up playing the fool
"I have no idea what you mean Anna"
"Save it, the pyramid. You know thats the De mere symbol. The symbols that sends Valentina into torment. I trusted you and you do this?" Anna spoke the two vampires sizing each other up and they walked towards each other threatnely close.
"I don't see Valentina, only a blood thirsty monster who's scaring her beloved and future family"
"Theres not just one of these symbols and you know it, I know how you work. You probably have Emily summoning them as we speak." She was about to charge at Katherine but Stefan got in between the girls holding Anna's blood stained hand in his stooping her. All Katherine did was laugh before turning to Damon her hand on his cheeks soothing the fear from his face, Damon tried to pull away but it was too little too late. Katherine begun to compel him to forget what had happened.
The scene began to phase out leaving Elliot and Valentina standing in a white mirrored hallway. Valentina's clogs were clearly ticking.
"So Stefan's her anchor?" Elliot questioned, clearly confused by the situation. When Valentina didn't acknowledge his idea he thoughts again "Damon, god I can't keep up with this girl and her love interests"
"Its not that kind of love..." Valentina began to speak realising what Anna's mind was trying to tell them. "What do the two scenes have in common" She spoke trying to get Elliot to understand. "I know when this was in 1864, Annie and I were separated because of Mikael earlier in the century, but we kept in contact I was in English court we traded letters. After Stefan's proposal, after this, she abruptly left Mystic Falls because Katherine had compelled Stefan and came to me. But not before she crossed all countries in Europe making sure none of the pyramids remained. I never knew how she knew my family were getting in my head again, why the torture was starting but somehow she did." Valentina continued to remember. "Both situations, Annie was protecting me ...it's me. I'm her anchor."
...