|28.| THE DEPARTED
CORA STANDS UNDER THE WARM WATER SPRINKLING DOWN HER BACK LOST IN THOUGHT. It truly was a blessing that she escaped Alaric alive and now she's home, allowing herself to rest after a long morning and afternoon of torture. Although she is worried about her brothers and friends; did they make it out alive? Did they take down mad man Alaric? If so, what is Klaus going to do?
The girl steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around her body, taking a seat on her bed and stares at the painting that hung over her fireplace. A soft knocks interrupts her staring contest with the flames and she hurried into her closet, allowing whoever is on the other side of the door to come in.
"Well, it's good to hear your voice and know that you're okay," Jade walks into the Salvatore's room and chuckles, seeing Cora's head peek out of the closet door.
"And it's good to know that you still care," Cora quickly gets dressed behind her closet door and walks out from behind it. "What're you doing here anyways?"
"Came to check on you since you've went through a lot for who knows how long," Jade tries to ignore the fact that her friend doesn't know.
Before Jade left to check on her best friend, she received a text from Evans telling her that he's helping the Salvatore brothers deliver Klaus's body to the Atlantic. She and Evans knows Cora won't take the news easily since she does have a thing for the hybrid, so Evans made the blonde best friend promise him she would watch over her, and she promised him.
"Yeah," Cora mumbles and shakes her head, standing up. "Are my brothers home? They made it out of there okay, right? And Klaus?"
"Hey, calm down. They're all fine. Right now you should just stay home and worry about your own health," Jade steps in front of her and grabs each of her arms.
"Jade, I'm a vampire. I heal pretty damn fast and I'm fine," Cora shakes her head and grabs her jacket.
Cora receives a message from Caroline telling her about bringing Elena back from the hospital and that she would explain when she gets there. She closes her phone and stuffs it in the back pocket of her jeans.
"You're not leaving, Cora," Jade gives her a look.
"I'm fine, Jade. I don't need a babysitter when my friend is currently getting discharged from the hospital. My priority right now is making sure she's okay," Cora states and grabs her keys, leaving a defeated Jade.
The blonde vampire huffs in frustration and pulls out her phone, texting Evans that she failed to keep Cora in the boarding house. Now the only thing she can do is try her best to keep the others from revealing the reason why her brothers are currently not at home and Klaus hasn't contacted Cora to inform her that he's okay.
The two friends head on over to the Gilbert residence to wait for Elena to come home from the hospital. Cora walks back and forth on the porch, messing with the Salvatore ring as she is concerned about her brothers and the man she has feelings for. A car pulls into the driveway and Cora walks over to the car helping Elena out. Caroline opens the front door while everyone else walks inside.
"Couch. Now," Cora boldly demands Elena and the doppelgänger slightly rolls her eyes at the overprotective Salvatore.
"I'm fine. I just want something to eat first," Elena says as she releases herself from Cora's arms.
"We're on it, as soon as we make sure no one is lurking in the closets," Tyler says while he and Matt split ways to search around the house to make sure no one is hiding.
"Alright, couch, now!" Caroline says as she helps Elena over.
"I told you guys that I'm fine," Elena pouts as she continues to follow orders.
"Well, knowing these two, they won't take 'I'm fine' as an answer. Ever wonder how quickly they get along," Jade exclaims and Cora glares at her as she covers Elena up on the couch.
"Anyways, doctor says rest, you rest," Caroline takes over Cora's spot and tucks Elena in. "Now, what can I get you? Do you want some tea, maybe some vodka?"
"Both will help you sleep," Cora points out as she stands alongside of Jade. Caroline and Elena slightly chuckle at her comment and the blonde sits on the couch next to the brunette.
"I know, we're being smothering. It's what I do," Caroline softly smiles at her best friend.
"No, it's nice," Elena nods and gives a small smile.
"I'm thinking-maybe tea with vodka," Caroline states and laughs along with the girls.
As Caroline walks into the kitchen, Cora softly rubs Elena's shoulder and follows the vampire into the kitchen, getting herself some alcohol. The three girls talk a bit as they get some tea and alcohol ready. Jade glances over at the Gilbert noticing hearing her soft breathing as she is asleep and she changes her focus onto her friend, seeing her watch over Elena.
A smile creeps on her face as she realizes that not only the brothers are overprotective of her, all three of them are. For completely different reasons; the two brothers both love Elena and Cora feels the need to protect her as she is one of her friends and someone who makes her brothers happy at times. Jade knows that's the reason why she refrains herself from ever hating the Gilbert because she is one of the only two people who makes the Salvatore brothers happy. Ever since Cora returned to Mystic Falls, she would have never thought she would claim these people as part of her family.
"Oh god, Tyler and I have to go," Caroline shakes her head as she walks back into the kitchen with him. "Our moms say it's an emergency. Do you think you two will be okay with us being gone? Matt will be here."
"It's fine. Go figure out what's happening with your mothers first," Cora looks at both Caroline and Tyler.
The couple nod in unison and walk out of the house, leaving the two vampires and human Matt there watching over their friend. Matt slightly glances over at the two girls out of paranoia since he doesn't trust anyone anymore as his friends are now all apart of the supernatural. Cora and Jade sat at the kitchen counter, drinking the booze they could find around the house.
"Do you think my brother's are okay? They haven't called or texted me all day," Cora shakes her head worriedly and looks at her friend.
"I promise you they're perfectly fine," Jade takes her friend's hand and tries to give an assuring smile as she is lying to her friend's face.
Cora blocks out the talking coming from the living room, which is Matt and Elena talking until she hears the front door open. She stands on her feet to see Stefan walking inside and embracing Elena. A wave of relief washes over her and once they pull away, she walks towards her little brother and hugs him tightly as she was deeply worried about him and Damon. If Stefan is here, where is Damon?
"I'm so glad you're okay," Cora cups his face and searches his eyes. "What happened? Where did you go? Where's Damon?"
"It's okay, we're both okay," Stefan pulls her hands away from his face, trying to calm her down. "Everything is okay and Damon is off being Damon. There's nothing to worry about."
The older sister exhales and slightly smiles, nodding and giving in to his words. She takes a seat with Elena on the couch, making her lay down so she can get some rest and not use much of her strength as she needs to get back her energy. Stefan walks over to the kitchen with Matt and Jade gives him look as he lied to his sister about what actually happened and where Damon actually is.
Stefan slightly shakes his head, not wanting to tell her yet as he doesn't want his sister reacting the way he believes she will. Jade sighs and takes a seat at the counter without saying anything and watches Matt and Stefan prepare food for Elena.
"I'm being over coddled. I feel completely fine," Elena groans in annoyance and Cora shakes her head.
"You missy are on house arrest. You're supposed to be coddled," Cora comments and takes a drink of her tea Jade made for her.
"Wouldn't it be smarter if we just got you the hell out of town?" Matt asks.
"And do what? Go on the run for the rest of my life? No thank you," Elena says and gets up from the couch. "And I'm not an invalid. I'm done with the couch."
Elena leaves the living room and Cora sighs, slouching into the couch as she gives up trying to keep Elena still for one minute. Jade slightly shakes her head at her friend and takes a seat next to her, offering the alcohol beverage. The vampire shakes her head and closes her eyes for a moment.
"So, you're just gonna let her call the shots?" Matt asks, asking the vampires in the room.
"Letting her make her own decisions," Cora states and sits up from the couch.
"Even if they're wrong?" Matt glances over at the girl.
"Nothing wrong with free will, Matt. Trust me, you don't realize that till you lose it," Stefan exclaims.
Jade glances over to the door as she feels Elena's
presence and she takes another look, seeing someone she didn't think any of them would see in awhile.
"Stefan."
The tier two vampires and Matt look towards the front doorway. The door use wide open and standing in front of Elena was one of the Originals: Elijah. Cora slowly stands up; confused, angry, happy. The man she wanted to get close to again and left her confused was standing there amongst everyone in the household.
"Elijah," Stefan says as his sister was dumbfounded.
"Hello again. Seems there's a lot we need to discuss," Elijah states as he looks at everyone.
His eyes land on Cora, which throws him off as he didn't necessarily want to see her because he predicted what her reaction would be when she seen him again. Cora snaps out of stare and she shakes her head, crossing her arms.
"A lot? There's nothing we need to say to you," Cora states.
Elijah squints his eyes and glances at the others who moved a bit awkwardly. His eyebrows raise in realization that everyone knew of his brother's state besides Cora.
"Well, I assume there's a lot of things you do not know by the looks of everyone standing in this house," Elijah says as he walks past threshold. Cora crunches her eyebrows and looks at everyone who looked away under her stare.
"What don't I know?" Cora clenches her jaw and looks at her brother. "What don't I know, Stefan."
"We discovered that the only way to kill Alaric was by killing Elena. Klaus was there helping us when he found out, only then we had to stop him from doing something as well," Stefan calmly states and Cora walks towards him slowly.
"What did he do?"
"It's more like what we did. Bonnie used a spell that helped us stop his heart and now Damon is taking him somewhere else where no one can find him," Stefan finally says.
Cora looks away and places her hand on her forehead, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she will never see the man she loves again. She could never admit her feelings for the hybrid until now, knowing she may no see him for a very long time however long Alaric roams the earth. Elijah notices her uneasiness of the news and he quietly sighs but remains still.
"Which is why I'm here now. I have a deal."
-
Everyone stood around in the kitchen as Elijah goes over his deal that he wants to make with Elena. Cora sat on a stool as she calms herself down, telling herself that Klaus isn't exactly dead and she doesn't want him dead. But after this deal, it may work out for her.
"All we need is to take that stake away from him. Once he's been disarmed, the weapon's in my possession, my family will scatter to the ends of the Earth and Alaric will follow us," Elijah goes over the deal.
"And you'll just run?" Stefan asks, sitting next to Elena.
"We've done it before," Elijah exclaims. "Klaus and Rebekah spent the better part of a thousand years evading my father. What's another half century while Elena is able to live out the rest of her natural life?"
"We've finally stopped him, Elijah. After everything that he's done to us, I can't just let you bring him back," Elena shakes her head.
"I give you my word, Elena. I will not revive Klaus within yours nor even within your children's lifetimes. Perhaps that will finally teach him some manners."
"Why should she trust you? All you've done is screw her over," Matt gets defensive over his friend.
"And for that, I am deeply ashamed. But know this, she could have been dead the instant I walked through that door tonight," Elijah points out. "So Elena, I leave it to you to make the decision whether to trust me or not."
"Not!" Damon yells over the phone, which pulls Cora out from spacing. "Hello? Did that concussion give you brain damage?! His lunatic siblings will kill you the first chance they get!"
"Rebekah and Kol will honor the terms. If you return Klaus' body to us, Elena will come to no harm." Elena and Stefan share a look. "Do we have a deal?"
"No! No, no, no, no! Did I mention no?" Damon replies through the phone again.
"Elena, it's up to you," Cora speaks up after not saying anything at all.
"Oh, come on!" Damon whines over the phone.
"Why do you want Klaus' body?" Elena asks before making her final decision.
"He's my brother. We remain together," Elijah answers.
"We have a deal."
After the final call from Elena, everyone standing in the room starts to come up with a plan to find a way to disarm Alaric. Together they can do just that with two Originals at their side and hundred year old vampires as well. It should be more than enough to stop Alaric and make sure everything will run smoothly.
Jeremy makes a call to Alaric since his former guardian was attempting to get the location of where Damon is taking Klaus. So Jeremy tells him a false location, which he bought and now it's up to everyone to meet up in the woods off a route. Stefan insisted on Elijah taking Cora with him. She didn't want to be anywhere near him, but Stefan made her go with him anyways. The car ride there was awkwardly quiet and Cora stared out of the window without attempting to make a conversation.
"You can't be upset with me forever, Cora," Elijah speaks up after awhile.
"I have eternity, so yes I can," Cora snaps and doesn't look at him.
"I had no choice but to flee. I didn't want to leave you," Elijah starts off but is interrupted.
"But you did, Elijah. For weeks I called and texted you, wanting to know why did you leave? Why did you leave me without asking me to come with you?" Cora turns and looks at him. He doesn't say anything and she scoffs, glancing out of the window again. "It doesn't matter."
"Even if I did ask for you to accompany me, you would have never thought for a second to leave Niklaus behind," Elijah glances at the girl. Cora glances at him as well, not knowing what to say besides looking down at her lap.
They arrive to the location Jeremy told Alaric and they get out, walking into the woods. Elijah made sure that Cora stayed close and she looks around, trying to find someone from the group who may have arrived earlier. Standing a bit of ways from the two was Stefan and Jade who had defeated look on their face. Cora shares a look with Elijah and they walk over, seeing Caroline arrive as well.
"What happened?" Elijah asks the little brother, but he doesn't answer as he stares at his phone.
"Stefan," Cora calls for him as she grows worried.
"Alaric staked Klaus. He's dead."
Caroline shakes her head at the news and speeds away in hopes of finding her boyfriend who was aided to Klaus. Cora covers her mouth and stumbles back while tears begin to form in her eyes, falling onto her cheeks. A sob erupts from her mouth and she starts to go down onto her knees, but Stefan speeds towards his sister and holds her close. She lays her head on his chest and continues to cry as her little brother softly strokes her hair. Elijah looks away from the two and he sighs as there is a pang in heart at the news of his little brother.
"D-Do you feel anything?" Cora trembles under her brother's hold. "Where's Damon? Oh, my god, we're nowhere near him, Stefan. We can't all be together."
"Cora," Stefan says softly but she continues.
"O-Oh, my god. What about Jason? No no no no," Cora stands up and begins to panic. "I-I need to see Jason. He can't be gone! No no no, he doesn't deserve this!"
"Cora, please calm down," Stefan starts to worry about his sister.
"I-I don't feel anything. Are we clear? No no no, Jason needs to be okay! We need to find a way to bring him back, yeah! Please, we need to ask Bonnie," Cora starts to breathe heavily and she spirals as too many things run through her head.
"Cora!" Stefan grabs her arms and watches as she gets startled.
She shakes her head and cries again, burying her head into his shoulder. Her little brother holds her close, rubbing her back and he looks over, not seeing Elijah anywhere. What his sister said concerned him: he doesn't feel anything either. Are they actually sired to Klaus?
Somewhere in the woods where the Lockwood cellar is, Bonnie walks inside of it. She peers around the stone walls, looking for someone specifically knowing that he's somewhere in the cellar. Creepy sounds echo in the cellar and she stands tall, not being afraid of this person at all.
"I know you're here," Bonnie says. Walking out from the shadows is Jason which she expected, but she knows it's not actually him.
"I must say you really did that spell brilliantly. I didn't think you had it in you," Jason says with a slight smirk, impressed with the witch's work.
"I did it to save my friends and my mother, Klaus. Not you," Bonnie states. She did a spell to where once Klaus was staked, he would then wake up in the body of one of his hybrids which is Jason.
"The spirits won't be happy with you," Jason-Klaus points out.
"The spirits don't get to tell me what to do anymore. I'm done getting pushed around by all of you. I did it because I wanted to."