Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ella POV:
The anger pooled in my body, the words of my supervisor reverberated, "You're too calm, we hardly hear or see you, if you don't talk to a client, we don't hear you, you don't share anything of yourself, you have to improve on this point, otherwise we'll have to let you go". Should I let people hear more from me? Should I share more? With people who avoided me because I came from Germany for them, with Dutch language skills, who coincidentally also spoke German and thus got one of the coveted jobs. The only thing I had done was look for a job, I was able to gain a foothold in customer service thanks to my experience and also work here in a country where I actually had no business. The fact that I could lose this job now because I wasn't social enough only sparked the anger further.
The only thing I tried to do was to stay alive, not to attract attention and, above all, not to attract the attention of certain people. I had been doing it for three years and now the job was on the line just because I wasn't social enough?!
I left the large office where my colleagues worked and followed the path to the exit, tears threatened to obscure my vision, I hated it so much that when I was angry, the tears always jumped into my eyes. Luckily for me, my shift was over, and I could go home, I didn't have to put up with the looks of my colleagues who rumored what our supervisor had discussed with me. I was aware that I wasn't very social, I was aware that I was rather introverted, I had trouble communicating with others and making friends even before I ended up here. Would it ever stop?

As if in a trance, I ran into someone, without turning around, I apologized and kept running. If I turned around now, I wouldn't be able to hold back the tears anymore and the last thing I needed now was someone who felt sorry for me. When I finally got to the front of the building, I took several deep breaths in and out. My nerves were tense to the breaking point and yet I managed to get on the train, look for a seat and not burst into tears. The helplessness drove away the anger and left me with perplexity, what should I do? I was not good at pretending that I was friendly to my colleagues, helpful and not open and honest, what I thought about them was due to my upbringing.
How could I become social if I wasn't and the mere thought of making small talk with people drained me? It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to others in principle, I was just exhausted so quickly and couldn't muster it to be social and analyze every single clue. I didn't have the energy, nor the mental strength.
When my stop was called, I got up and left the train, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, the feeling of being followed came over me out of nowhere, I called for camouflage, a navigation app on my mobile phone and pretended that I had to orient myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a darkly dressed figure that was in my immediate vicinity and kept an eye on me. He didn't even hide that he had me in view.
My heartbeat painfully fast against my ribs, the fear I spread inside me at the sight of him paralyzed me for a few seconds. Hopefully it wasn't a vampire, they would know right away that my camouflage to orient me wasn't real.

"Oh, that's where I have to go" with these words I deliberately calmly went to the exit, compared the sign like someone who didn't know where to go, until I ran up the stairs and at the exit, assured me that the figure had not followed me and ran. After only 5 minutes I had a stitch in my side and burned my lungs, but I didn't stop until I arrived in front of the building where I had rented a small one-room apartment. I looked around, made sure that no one had followed me and entered the entrance hall, where the urine smell hit me. Unfortunately, it was no exception, often men relieved themselves in the hallway. I had already gotten used to the fact, it was just part of the neighborhood, it didn't have a good reputation and was considered backward.
When I arrived at my front door, I unlocked the door and entered the little oasis I had created for myself, routinely I put the locks on and turned on the radio on the small kitchen table, which I was allowed to call my own.
I let my gaze glide through the small kitchen area to the living area, which was also the bedroom at the same time. It was small, but it was enough for me.

What was I to do? What would I be able to do? I allowed myself a few minutes to succumb to helplessness and then kick my own ass and signed up for job boards so that I could find a new job as soon as possible. Luckily for me, they were always looking for customer service agents and with the languages I spoke, I was able to find a new job quickly, but well paid was another story. I had to come to terms with being able to pay for everything and living mainly on instant noodles.
That's what you got out of having no education, at least no evidence that I could ever have gotten here.
I was lucky that I had no training to show for a customer service job except for experience.

Elijah POV:
Did my eyes deceive me? Had I really just seen Estella, with glasses? I had noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye while waiting for my contact in the metro station and even if it had only been fleeting, I had seen Estella. But that could not be.
She had died in my arms almost 200 years ago, I suppressed the pain and banished the memories that pushed to the surface.
I had to focus on why I was here for now. There were more important things to do than a supposed sighting of Estella.
My contact was late to my annoyance and so my schedule shifted by more than just a few minutes, which resulted in me entering my hotel room late in the evening and ending a strenuous day with some whiskey and a blood bag.

The pleasant burning of the alcohol could not stop me from reviewing the fleeting moment. I could remember the profile of the young woman, she had worn dark colored glasses, her dark blonde hair was cut into a pixie, and she had looked at her cell phone and mumbled something. The image of Estella with her light blonde long hair and an irresistible smile on her lips pushed to the surface and the pain, along with the memories of her last minutes, broke over me. After all these years, I could have lived with the pain that it didn't hurt so much anymore, but it still felt as if I had just held her in my arms and the life disappeared more and more with every breath she took until only her lifeless shell remained.
It must have been imagination; it was not possible that I had seen Estella...

Disclaimer from me. I re-wrote and added/edited the first chapter to have it more fitting for the direction I want this story to go. I also cannot promise regular updates due to work. I hope you will still ike it and no this is not written by AI. It is written and translated from my native language by me and to fix errors I used the auto correction function of Word.

Chapter Text

Ella POV:
I spent the rest of the evening looking for a new job, but unfortunately not one of the vacancies matched my profile and qualifications, I knew that my profile was not very popular, but the fact that with my language skills, I would have nowhere to find a new job, literally pushed me into a hole, which seemed to get deeper and deeper.
"Pull yourself together! There must be more customer service jobs," I called myself sternly to order. The chance that my contract would be extended was small, if you criticized that I hardly had any social contacts with my colleague, unfortunately that had happened to me several times.
I couldn't help the fact that I wasn't very social, I had tried and failed miserably.
The memories of my miserable attempts tried to reach the surface, with difficulty I suppressed them so as not to fall further into a hole, it cost me enough strength every time to climb out again, when would I no longer have the strength to do so?
It felt like I was fighting against insurmountable obstacles every time, it took me so much energy to be social, to be friendly and helpful to customers on the phone.
"Now pull yourself together!" I said to myself energetically, my voice sounding implausible in my ears to convince myself. Later, I could still swim in self-pity, now I had to focus. Maybe it helped to visualize my steps.

o Update your CV
o Set up Customer Service Agent Alert
o Enroll job boards

With a confident feeling in my stomach, I put down the pen, just as my mother had always said that if one door closed, another would open, no matter how hopeless my situation seemed now, a new door would open. I had to focus on that, otherwise the last three years would have been for nothing. I had been careful not to generate too much attention, saved every penny I didn't need to survive to be able to disappear in an emergency, it wasn't much but would give me a head start. At that time, I had no idea that I would soon need this advantage.
A loud knocking tore me out of my thoughts, someone knocked on the apartment door, even if it sounded more like someone was hitting it. I hadn't ordered anything, so who almost punched holes in the door now?

When I wanted to look through the spy, darkness awaited me, whoever was at the door had covered the spy. I wasn't supposed to open the door and it didn't even come to that, I saw the door coming towards me, it was broken open and then everything around me went black...

Elijah POV:
"You have a surprise?" I asked and followed my brother Kol after he called me that he had a surprise for me, early in the morning. Due to the old abandoned warehouse, Kol wasn't really the type for surprises. Meanwhile, I regretted that I had been persuaded by Niklaus and Rebekah to spend more time with Kol, because it always resulted in him going overboard and I had to cover up what he had done afterwards. Kol was just tipping his henchmen to listen to someone when I entered the room and a guy was sitting standing next to a young woman, she was tied up and I couldn't see her face, her dark brown hair that she had cut a pixie cut and part of the glasses she was wearing, the taller and wider of the two turned to us and backed away right in front of the young woman and gave the A clear view of them. The feeling that the ground was torn from under my feet came over me like a wave of water. This could not be, it was impossible.
I had seen her die, felt the life flowing out of her body, how her life essence had been absorbed by New Orleans and she had become part of her ancestors. Estella
But the woman who was sitting there could not possibly be her, she had told me herself that if she died, she would become part of her ancestors, rebirth was out of the question. "That's your surprise?" I wanted to know from my brother and decided to free the young woman from her shackles. She backed away from me as I approached her, as far as she could. Instead of dwelling on the fact that she looked like my fiancée, whom I had lost two hundred years ago, I loosened the shackles, touched her left hand fleetingly and an electric shock went through me. She didn't look at me, I gave her the space to get up and leave. At that moment, I forgot an important detail that would haunt me later.
I listened until her footsteps had moved away and she could no longer be near, before I turned to my brother and demanded answers from him.

"I had found your friend for you, who was believed to be dead, and so you thank me for it?" Kol replied to me, while he took care of the two men by manipulating them to forget everything and go home. The memories and the feelings associated with them threatened to flood me. The pain of losing Estella threatened to come back to the surface.

"Where are we going to get married? In a church or privately, without a clergyman?" Estella asked her husband as they walked through the streets of the Frech Quarter in New Orleans, her hand hooked under his arm and she felt more than that she heard his laughter. "Whatever you want, I know a beautiful place in France," Elijah replied, looking at his fiancée with her green eyes, her wild blonde curls, and the sweetest smile he'd ever seen. The fact that she had accepted his proposal still gave him the feeling of walking on clouds. Although marriage was actually frowned upon in her case, she was a practicing witch, while he was a primordial vampire, and thus they were actually mortal enemies. But somehow Cupid had thought that there should be some peace between the supernatural peoples and had brought two disparate personalities together.
The wild, passionate and friendly Estella, who quickly had a conversation with everyone and was welcome by everyone, and the somewhat quieter, reserved gentlemen Elijah, an unequal couple as had often been said, who, despite their differences, had nevertheless come together and where no one yet suspected how cruel death could be.

It cost me all my willpower to push back the memory, I couldn't and didn't want to have to relive the pain of her dying in my arms.
"Estella is dead and she won't come back, you had an innocent woman kidnapped" I clarified and only now did I remember that I hadn't taken away her memories of what had happened here. I had to find her and take away her memories of this incident. I should have done that earlier, but I had been so busy ignoring her strong resemblance to Estella that I had simply forgotten. A momentous mistake if I can't find her and manipulate her memory.
To my surprise, I found her faster than she would have liked, I could tell from her posture that she had spotted me as I approached the bus stop where she was waiting for the bus, her breathing was fast, which led me to conclude that she had run to the bus stop. "I don't have anything to do with them" I spoke to her as I approached slowly, the suspicion and fear in her eyes were understandable and I immediately noticed that she had blue eyes, which stood out less through her glasses than without glasses, which made it more difficult to adjust her memories. Before I could get closer to her, the bus pulled up to the bus stop and she literally jumped into the bus to leave me behind. I had to watch idly as she disappeared out of sight, knowing that Kol's henchmen had kidnapped her. I could only hope that she would go back to her apartment, then I had the opportunity to manipulate her memory. Because if Kol did one thing, it was to work thoroughly and I would get the address from her, from him.

Chapter Text

Brief note, I have decided in this alternate universe that vampires cannot easily manipulate a human who wears glasses, but they must take off the glasses from the human in order to be able to carry out the manipulation.

Ella POV:
This could not be true, it could not be true, this could not be possible. I tried to convince myself that it was not possible, that I was wrong, that my vivid imagination had played tricks on me, and that I had hallucinated Kol and Elijah. But that was not the case, especially because the latter had followed me to the bus stop and only because the bus had arrived did, he has not been able to take away my memories of him and Kol. I had expected a bold demeanor, but he had let me escape, or was that part of his plan? Was he one of the people I had met 3 years ago?
I had to concentrate now and not get lost in old memories, I had to go home to take the most important papers and then disappear, they could not find me, who knew what they were going to do?
My stop came into view, but I decided to take the next one to prevent anyone from following me, that they wouldn't know I was going home, even if that was dangerous and stupid, I needed my passport, which I couldn't keep in a locker because I couldn't use an ID card without being exposed. After an hour that I had used to disguise where my actual goal was.
In the apartment I grabbed my passport and left the apartment as quickly as possible, always careful not to draw attention to myself, something I was particularly good at, no one paid attention to anyone who listened to "music" and walked through the hallway with a neutral facial expression. Something I use to my advantage, even when I was not listening to music, this impression was created thanks to the MP3 player I grabbed on the way out.

I followed my tactics once again to disguise what my goal was and made it, without pursuers, to the train station from where I could get to the airport or further south in the Netherlands, where would they look for me? At the airport? Or would they wait at the train station? I decided to take the train station, the possibility of escaping them was greater there, I could go from there, to the south and from there, on to Germany or Belgium, the more distance I could put between the Mikaelson brothers and me, the better. After all, I did not know if they were not working with those who had made sure I was here in the first place. So much of what I knew about the Mikaelsons did not match. The memories of the transgression of the world threatened to force their way back into my consciousness, but I did not let it. I would eventually find out why I was here and who was responsible for getting one of the circles of New Orleans to tear me out of my world and throw me into it. And then I would make that person pay for it!

After changing trains three times, I ended up in Cologne, the last stop for today, I had to decide, where would I go? Where could I hide until tomorrow and catch up on some sleep? I now had to focus on getting as much distance as possible between the Mikaelson brothers and myself, I had to go hiding and if I could do one thing, it was that I could disappear into a group of people. But that would not help me with vampires.
Just as I was leaving the main train station and had chosen a route to a hotel with the help of Google Maps, which did not charge a fortune directly for one night, I scanned my surroundings. Tourists and commuters surrounded me, in addition to the people who lived here in Cologne. But unfortunately, I also recognized the silhouettes of two vampires, they stood with their backs to me, but I recognized them to my chagrin. How did they manage to be here? So far, I have always managed to shake off pursuers.
I quickly turned around and almost ran into someone if I had not caught myself and dodged quickly enough. With quick steps I started to walk to the cathedral, because I knew that if I went around the cathedral, I could get to the Rhine and from there, I would also get to the hotel where I had booked myself for the night. As I pushed my way through the crowds of people who were exclusively tourists, I dared to turn around every now and then to see if Elijah or Kol were following me, the chance was small, but I could not afford to be careful now.
For three years I had been hiding, had been invisible, and had hidden from the people who had brought me into this world at that time in whatever way.
And now that was to be over because Kol had had a surprise for Elijah, as he had so aptly put it, me, and a surprise? If it was nothing else.
Why exactly had I been a surprise to his brother? I still did not understand that, and if I could prevent it, I would not know it.
Because one thing I knew for sure, the Mikaelsons meant trouble.

3 years ago:
A throbbing pain was the first thing I felt when I gained consciousness, I was lying on something hard, cold and my head felt like someone had played football with it. The air smelled stale, musty and somehow dead.
When I opened my eyes, my vision was blurry, blurred was normal for me, but blurry? When I wanted to move my hands to feel for my glasses, there was a clink. Something silver had been placed around my wrists and judging by the weight, they were chains. Chain! How was that possible? I had just been on the bus, back home, I must have fallen asleep, but that did not explain where my glasses were and where I was now!
After several attempts, I found my glasses and could clearly see my surroundings, I was in a mausoleum. Opposite me were graves, the oldest from 1798.
This had to be a dream, it could not be that I was in a mausoleum...

With difficulty I shook off the memories and looked around, directly behind me ran two men who paid no attention to me, behind them ran Elijah and Kol. Neither of them had seen me yet, but if I stayed here longer, they would see me sooner than I would like.
The fear I was trying to suppress tried to come back to the surface, suddenly I felt a stinging in my throat and everything around me went black...

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:
The flash of a needle in the light drew my attention to a man stabbing a young woman in the neck with the contents of the syringe. It was the young woman who looked confusingly similar to Estella, without thinking long about my steps, I was with the two within a few steps and Kol followed my example. While I took the unconscious woman, who was still unknown to me, Kol forced him to sit down with him on a bench nearby and say what exactly he had planned to do with her.
Meanwhile, I made my way to the hotel, which was remarkably close by, to know that the young woman was safe and to find out who she was.
It felt strangely familiar when I looked at the face that seemed so peaceful as her head rested against my right shoulder, her heartbeat was slow, but that was due to the narcotic I could smell on her. But I could also make out differences between Estella and her, she had freckles that were concentrated on her nose and were not very pronounced at the moment.
Her glasses were a bit crooked on her nose, normally I would fix them for her, but I did not have the opportunity to do that yet, otherwise I would have dropped them.
When I arrived at the hotel room, I put them down on the bed and took off the glasses to put them on the bedside table. Without her glasses she looked like Estella as if they had been twins and the faint hope that it could be Estella wanted to germinate, but I nipped this in the bud.
Estella was dead.

The young woman looked like her, this fact could not be denied, but I recognized differences, she had slight freckles on her nose, and these spread further under her eyes, she had a high forehead, a snub nose and a rather round face shape. At first glance you could easily mistake her for Estella, but so many things didn't match, and she was wearing glasses, wearing glasses for years had left slight marks on the bridge of her nose.
Within a few seconds, I found her ID. Her name was Ella van der Velden, she was a Dutch citizen, but what made me suspicious was her birthplace and thus country.
According to the ID, she had been born in Düren, but as far as I knew, Düren was in Germany and not in the Netherlands, could it be that she had only obtained Dutch citizenship later? I needed to find out more and decided to use my contacts to find out more.
After I had placed the order and given the most important information, Kol entered the hotel room and had no good news. The attackers belonged to the Deveroux Witch Coven, one of the covens that fought for control of New Orleans. He hadn't been able to get much information from the attacker, only that not only his coven was after the young woman, but apparently all 9 covens from New Orleans.
What was so special about her? She didn't seem extraordinary; she seemed to me like any other 33-year-old woman. How wrong I was, I would find out later.

"What are you going to do now? Will you let her forget that she met us?" Kol informed himself about my plans with Ella, I tore my gaze away from the unconscious woman and turned to my brother. "I think that we should first find out why the witches are after her, if the information is correct, then she has been on the run from the witches for 3 years, but why?" remained unanswered. Since neither I nor Kol knew an answer to this and the person who might be able to shed light on the matter was unconscious.
"But that doesn't explain why she looks like Estella, if I didn't know better, I would think that she has risen from the dead," my brother pointed out, which had led to his surprise. Even though we had actually traveled to Europe to follow up on clues. Clues as to who was trying to kill my family, apart from the enemies Niklaus had accumulated over the years. I didn't have a clean slate either, I was aware of the fact, each of us had made someone an enemy, but only as a family, a united front, could we face this enemy and put a stop to it.

Ella POV:
A stabbing pain was the last thing I could remember before everything around me went black. Now a headache accompanied me as I could slowly perceive my surroundings, I was lying on something soft, voices reached my ears, male voices, they spoke English. What had happened?
When I opened my eyes, everything around me was out of focus, my glasses were lying next to my head on a bedside table, "She's awake" a male voice stated, I didn't dare to look in the direction of the voice, I didn't want to admit it. This couldn't be true; I had managed to remain undetected for 3 years and now all this should have been for nothing? My glasses gave me the vision I needed, and Elijah pushed himself into my field of vision. "I won't hurt you," he addressed me as I pushed from the edge of the bed to the head of the bed and was therefore out of reach of the vampire. She doesn't seem to understand you," Kol remarked to my left and Elijah's gaze turned to his brother, who had called me a surprise for him. The words reminded me of the last day, had it really only been a day? For my feeling it was already several days, but I knew that my feeling was deceiving me. It was just one day, a day when I had been on my guard all the time, and yet it hadn't helped me. For 3 years I had lived under the radar, had saved every penny I could save to be able to disappear if the worst came to the worst and now, I found myself in a hotel room, which I found after a quick look left.

Before either man could say anything, my cell phone rang loudly from my pocket, the rather scary laugh at the end of Michael Jackson's thriller told me that my boss was probably calling me, with very likely bad news. When I held my cell phone in my hand, my assumption came true. "Ella, it's nice that I'm reaching you" my boss's voice called through the cell phone, he sounded bright, but he actually always was, there was no indication why he called me right now.
I pushed to the end of the bed and stood up, Elijah and Kol made no move to stop me from going to the bathroom.
"How are you?" he asked me as I closed the door behind me, I knew Elijah and Kol could hear everything one way or another. "It's a little better," I lied, I had called in sick after shaking off Elijah and Kol and taking the train to Germany. "The reason I'm calling has nothing to do with your well-being" he told me, I had already expected it, "My contract will not be renewed" I concluded, and my voice did not fail me. Even though I had the feeling that I had a lump in my throat, the size of a tennis ball.
"If it were up to me, I would extend your contract, but..." He didn't get any further because I interrupted him. "Because I'm not social enough, I know".

So, from now on I was unemployed, not only had someone drugged me, I was now also in the company of two of the most dangerous vampires in history. Elijah and Kol, a dangerous sibling duo. "You are a good customer advisor, but the human is missing, I'm sorry" he even apologized to me. An apology didn't get me anywhere. I hung up without another word and only when my right hand touched the cold tile, did I realize that I was leaning against the large bathtub. My life, which I had built up in the last 3 years, was gone. Gone and I didn't have a backup plan to build a new life again. I had had a plan in case I was discovered, but it hadn't been to be anesthetized, or to wake up in a hotel room and sit across from Elijah and Kol Mikaelson. What should I do now?
After what felt like an eternity, the door was opened, and Elijah entered the bathroom. "Do you understand English?" he asked me while Kol stopped in the doorway. Should I answer with the truth? That I had spent most of my time 3 years ago on the Internet, on Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr and thus could not only understand English, but also speak it? He apparently interpreted my hesitation as a no, because he brought out his own smartphone and typed something in English to have it translated. His finger remained hovering over the screen, undecided which language to choose. After all, I had spoken Dutch with my ex-boss.
The last few minutes had cost me more energy than I wanted to show, helplessness tried to gain the upper hand, but I pushed it back, back into the safe I had acquired, for all the emotions that were not allowed to push to the surface now.
What would he do with me? Would he hand me over to those I had been looking for 3 years, or would he let me go?
However, before I received any answers, Elijah was called, and judging by the look on his face, he was not expecting good news.
The next few minutes decided my fate and I would not like the direction...

Chapter Text

Ella POV:
"Kol, please stay with her for a moment" he asked his younger brother and left the bathroom, "Of course, I like to play babysitter as if she just disappears into thin air" he called after Elijah and looked at me, he seemed to be looking for signs that I was a danger to him. A human who, except for a sixth sense, had absolutely no extraordinary abilities, something against vampires, even a original vampire. Kol entered the bathroom and sat down opposite me, not a word was spoken, he looked at me and I returned his gaze. Nothing could be read from his expression, I couldn't even begin to guess what he was thinking, or whether he was up to something.
"You speak English" he insinuated to me, when I didn't react to his insinuation he started to smile, I preferred to remain silent, I couldn't even be sure at the moment that my voice didn't fail me, so I remained silent. Not a syllable left my mouth.
Footsteps approached the door and in the next blink of an eye, Elijah was back and looked astonished, but the astonished expression had disappeared within a blink, what remained was the neutral expression he seemed to always wear to the show. Did he actually know what he was feeling, or did he have his feelings so blank out that he was indifferent to everything?
Why did I care at all? It was not as if the knowledge would get me anywhere.
"Why do you assume that she speaks English?" Elijah informed Kol and looked at me as if he didn't expect me to speak English as well, it was almost as if he was trying to lure me out of my reserve, I didn't suspect at the time that I would soon get to know another side of the primordial vampire.
"Your smartphone is set to English, I would have expected Dutch or German" Kol revealed, how he knew that I also knew the English language, the revelation did not have the desired effect, Kol looked at me penetratingly.

I had already forgotten that my smartphone was set to the English language, I had done that years ago to force myself to master English better, had resulted in me reading more English than other languages, but achieved my goal.
Elijah looked at me as if expecting a reaction, but I had no energy left, too much had happened in the last few hours. He should think about what he wanted.
I no longer had a job, my life was no longer in my own hands, but in that of two primordial vampires, both of which I could not assess at all.
"Now that we've established that there's no language barrier, do you want to add something?" Elijah said to me, „I looked at him, tried to keep an expressionless expression and replied "No".
I had nothing to add, because I simply did not know why the two were here and honestly, I did not want to know. Elijah entered the bathroom and held out his hand to me as if he wanted to help me up. Instead of taking his hand, I sat up without his help and looked at him in silence, Kol was on his feet in a moment, leaving me alone with his brother in the bathroom. "Not very talkative?" Elijah stated and it sounded more like a question, but judging by the look on his face, he wanted to elicit a reaction from me with his remark. I just looked at him, waiting for another question instead of giving him an answer. He turned around and left the bathroom, what exactly did he want from me?

Elijah POV:
Ella followed me, I heard her footsteps behind me as I walked to bed and pushed Kol's feet off the bed. "Can you please stop being such a pain in the neck?" my brother commented on my action, "Behave" I reprimanded him, and he looked at me with concern. As if I had just stabbed him in the heart with a dagger. I turned to Ella, "You know who we are" I insinuated to her, she looked at me with a deliberately expressionless expression, "Is that a question or a statement?" she replied in English, which confirmed Kol's claim that she understood us, I could perceive a very slight accent. "Statement" Kol assessed my question and returned my gaze, which I threw at him, unmoved and leaned back on the bed with my hands clasped behind my head, just two handbreadths away from Ella's thigh. She watched Kol and me as he asked about the phone call I had accepted; it had confirmed my suspicion that the witches were after the woman who was sitting here in this hotel room and was sitting dangerously close to my brother right now. Why did that bother me? She was a stranger and apart from her name and her age, I did not know anything about her, so why did it bother me that Kol was lying so close to her on her back? It did not escape my brother that I did not like the closeness of both of them and he visibly enjoyed the fact that I could not say anything about it without exposing myself.

"That was Finn, the witch covens in New Orleans got together to find someone who can help them neutralize Niklaus," I replied to my brother, paying attention to her heartbeat, her facial expressions, and every sign that she knew more about it. But nothing stood out, "What has Nik gotten himself into again" was Kol's answer and he straightened up.
"In any case, someone is very interested in getting their hands on our Mrs. van der Velden and I would like to know why," I answered him and looked at Ella. "I'm not a clairvoyant and my fortune teller bullet are unfortunately being repaired" she answered me, my unspoken question, while Kol grinned at her answer, my eyes narrowed for a moment and looked at her sternly. Something that did not seem to bother her, I did not know that she had already had to deal with exhausting customers for 3 years, every day, and my questioning was nothing compared to that.
The evidence spoke for itself, someone was after her, the indications grew that she was connected to the threat that had brought our family together again. Even though we had all built our own lives, we still stayed in touch. "Why do you need a fortune teller ball if you are not a clairvoyant?" I informed myself and sat down on the chair that stood opposite the bed.
"To answer questions, I don't have answers to, or do you expect me to know what exactly is going on?" Ella explained to herself and looked at me with a suspicious look in her eyes, she seemed to want to estimate what exactly we were planning to do with her. "Why don't we just start at the beginning," Kol suggested and asked Ella why she had actually left if she did not know who was after her.

The answer to that was simple, she knew who we were, and if there is one thing you could be sure of, it is that we meant trouble. While Kol was talking to her, I observed her posture, facial expressions and analyzed her answers. She really did not seem to know who was after her, I did not suspect that I would soon have more questions. After Kol decided to get something to eat for the only person in the room, I was left alone with her.
"Why did your boss fire you?" I steered the conversation to the phone call we had witnessed; she looked at me, her blue eyes looked at me, the mistrust was almost palpable, the glasses partially covered, her facial expressions. "Because I haven't been social enough towards my colleagues and therefore people doubt whether I'm a team player," was her slightly cynical answer. Since when have people been fired just because they did not maintain social contact with colleagues?

My astonishment must have been clear to her because she revealed to me that she had also been fired from a telephone provider because she had worked too efficiently, instead of talking to customers about the weather first, she had focused directly on the problem. That sounded so absurd and yet I could not see any signs that she was lying to me. The resemblance to Estella was still striking, but she was not Estella. She was not like her, the cheerfulness, the friendly manner, and the extroverted personality for which I had loved her were not present in this woman.
She was on her guard, careful and attentive to her words, careful not to say anything wrong. One thing was clear, I had a decision to make, it was no coincidence that someone had tried to kidnap her and only through Kol's surprise and my negligent action, not to directly take away all memories of the kidnapping by Kol's henchmen, had led us here and so we had witnessed the kidnapping attempt.
Then Finn had contacted me and confirmed to me that his source at the coven had confirmed to him that the witches were looking for someone, this someone could be dangerous to Niklaus and the rest of my family...

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:
Now the question remained what we should do with her, the witches did everything in their power to get her under their control. I could not leave her to the witches if the assumption Finn had expressed turned out to be true and it was Ella who wanted to get witches under her control.
I watched the young woman in front of me, she didn't seem nervous in the slightest, even though she knew how dangerous I could be to her, either she was tired of life or a very good actress who had her breathing, heartbeat and other vital features of the human body under control. At that time, I had no idea that this was not the case at all.
After some time, Kol arrived again with something to eat for Ella and something to drink for us, even though I still did not feel comfortable seeing him sitting next to Ella, I did not want to find out why it bothered me. She thanked Kol for the food and asked to my amazement what he got for it, whereupon Kol looked at me, did she really think he had paid for it? As I knew my brother, he had manipulated someone for the food. She seemed to come to this conclusion, whether she approved of this or not, could not be read from her face, but what I noticed, after I looked at her silhouette a little better, was that she was frighteningly thin for someone of her size and physique.

I estimate her height at 1.80, her physique was actually a bit stronger, she did not have a filigree physique, but she was frighteningly thin. Is she eating enough?
Why did I ask myself that? I was startled by my own thoughts, but before I could join in the conversation Kol had with Ella, my informant came forward with information about Ella, I left the room and accepted the call.
"Is there any news?" I answered, "I sent them all the information we could find in an email; we were only able to find information from the last 3 years, it's as if it didn't exist before" my informant let me know. I ended the conversation and looked directly at the data that had been sent to me. Ella van der Velden, 33 years old, who I already knew, had reported to the embassy in Amsterdam almost 3 years ago because she had lost her passport. Before that, there was no information about where she had been born, where she had lived, or what her career was. He had also added her financial resources and that explained to me why her physical condition was bad than good. She had already used up everything for her escape, she had no money left and would not get any further than Cologne.
The information I had received and what I had learned from her so far raised more questions than answers.

Why were there no records of her, from 3 years ago? My contact would keep digging and give me information if he found more, but it was weird. As if she had just shown up 3 years ago without leaving a trace, which was impossible when I considered her financial means. Otherwise, she would not have lived extremely frugally, which I drew from her finances. I had to decide, could I let her go, leave her to her own devices and hope that she was not who the witches were after?
I could not take this risk; I had to rule that she was the person I was looking for. When I entered the room again, Ella had fallen asleep and Kol looked at me with a knowing grin, I did not like his grin, it often meant nothing good. "It amazes me that the life of this person is so important to you," he analyzed my actions and added, "One could almost think that you have found your better half".
"That's a legend" I fended off the thought, there was no better half for me, the woman who slept was not the missing piece of my soul, a legend that had turned out to be false with Estella's death.

A long time ago, it was said that every person had a soulmate. When two soulmates touched for the first time, they both felt a slight electric shock. Over time, a wafer-thin, invisible thread formed between their hearts. This thread connected their souls in a way that no words could be described. This connection led them to each other again and again and strengthened their love and connection, regardless of time and space.

When I had met Estella back then, we had felt directly attracted to each other, it was as if we had known each other for years, even if we had only talked for a few minutes. I never experienced this feeling again and I certainly had not felt it with Ella. The electric shock was the only thing I had never felt with Estella, but when I touched Ella. But that did not mean that she was the missing piece. It was simply impossible.

Ella POV:
The warm water did not even begin to drive away the tiredness, it was as if the tiredness had bitten into my bones. Kol had already set out to lay a false trail, whoever seemed to be after me, the Mikaelsons had their own interest in not giving them a chance to get me under their control. As he had called it, we had a common interest. Even though I doubted this interest, I wanted to stay alive and not be killed by any witches.
And this common interest meant for me that as soon as I stepped out of the shower, got dressed and had some breakfast, I was on my way to an unknown destination. Because Elijah had not given me much information and would not do it.
After I dried off and dressed, I stopped in front of the door, I had managed to go hiding for 3 years, now it was all over, because of a surprise Kol had had for Elijah, and I did not know what to do with this surprise.

Elijah was waiting in the armchair in the room, he had exchanged his suit for a leather jacket and jeans, he was reading a newspaper from Today. On the table next to the second armchair was a hearty breakfast with rolls and croissants, "I was so free to order breakfast" his voice broke through the silence of the room. "I can see that, but why?" I answered him and the newspaper was folded halfway, his dark brown eyes looked at me scrutinizingly, "As far as I know, people need regular food intake" was his answer and his choice of words was unusual. It took me a few seconds to understand that he meant that people like me needed food and drink on a regular basis. Although I did not give him a friendly look, he simply ignored the fact and turned back to his newspaper.
Why did he actually bother? This man was a book with not seven seals, but with at least 1,000, if not more.
"What's all this about?" I wanted to know from him, I hated being in the dark and not knowing what exactly was going on and what he was planning to do with me drove me crazy. Elijah dropped the newspaper and looked at me, "I could also ask why there are only records of you, for 3 years, but not before and not even a birth certificate can be found" revealed to me that he had had me X-rayed. "How am I supposed to know?" I asked, I certainly would not tell him where I really came from, that would mean my death.

"It's not that I know how the registration of data works, I only know that I lost my passport 3 years ago and had to ask for a new one, why only that is known and no more, I don't know" I deliberately pretended to be stupid, I knew very well to a part, as in theory, data has been collected and stored. But I would not tell him that. The way he looked at me, he was looking for signs that I was lying, but one thing I had learned was to be able to lie like print. "Why is your smartphone set to English?" he fired the next question at me, his calm attitude had disappeared, and he seemed irritated by now. "Because I had changed it to English when I wanted to learn the English language, I never reset it, is that a crime?" I informed myself and looked at him challengingly. I did not like the way he almost interrogated me, he had obtained information about me and came damn close to the fact that I had not existed in this world 3 years ago. I had no idea how close he was to this fact...

Chapter Text

Ella POV:

Elijah's plan was to travel to the airport by train and from there with his private jet, of course he had a private jet, to fly to the USA, back to his family, but before that he would meet with a witch who could tell him more about those who seemed to be after me. It was still a mystery to me why he had decided to interfere and thwart the plan of the witches who were still after me. He was just waiting for his contact person who would meet him on the north side of Cologne Cathedral, tourists took photos, scurried around the large building, I heard various languages around me, it was strange to stand here and pretend to inspect the building. It was hard to imagine that it would have taken seven hundred years for the building to be completed and those who had built it had never seen it completed. That was sad and yet it was an impressive building.
"Are you familiar with the history of this cathedral?" Elijah broke through my thoughts, he looked around, surveyed the tourists who had gathered around and were talking about the cathedral in all kinds of languages, or what they wanted to visit next. "Why do you want to know that?" I asked suspiciously as he turned to me.
"Small talk" was the simple answer, he was good at playing with the interested tourist, who was fascinated by the building and how it had been built.
He received a message on his mobile phone because he suddenly started moving towards the cathedral and I had no choice but to follow him, above all I did not want to draw attention to myself.

There were also many tourists in the cathedral, especially with candles that could be lit to commemorate a loved one. I was not a believer, at least not in the way the Catholic Church taught. There was certainly something, on the other hand, there was no heaven or hell for me, there was so much between heaven and earth, there was no God as the church taught. I could not explain where I got this knowledge from, it had to do with the fact that I did not really belong here.
I bought one of the candles and lit it, even if I could not reach my family in this dimension, this simple gesture could. "Someone determined lost?" I heard Elijah ask softly and it sounded as if sympathy resonated in his voice. "No, as far as I know, my family is not dead, but they are not here, not in this world," I wanted to add, but left it, should he believe that I had no contact with my family. Before he could ask me what I meant, because he seemed confused, he was approached, his contact had come. This led Elijah and me into an abandoned part of the cathedral and down a flight of stairs into a basement vault that was not open to the public, which was written in large letters in several languages on a sign.
Elijah made sure I did not disappear, as often as he looked around, he started to get on my nerves. It was not that I was so tired of life and wanted to get the rage of a vampire on my neck by disappearing and apart from that, the witches were after me. As if I had the choice of either vampire or witches. The choice was surprisingly easy.

Only when we were alone, his contact takes off the hood and turn to us, it was a young man, he resembled Davina, family of hers? It was not that much like the series, so I was not surprised if he could be Davina Claire's family. The familiar tingling on my neck was noticeable, we were not alone, and I could not see a soul that would trigger the tingling. "It's not exactly easy to get information and also to come here unseen," the young man, unknown to me, opened the conversation. "I have already transferred the agreed sum" was Elijah's answer, one thing I had forgotten, he was rich. This fact escaped me every time. Elijah and the young man talked as I spun on my own axis, I could not shake the feeling that there was someone else here, but I could not tell if that person was alive or dead. "You can feel the departed souls," he suddenly addressed words to me and Elijah looked at me searchingly. When I just looked at him and did not reply, he added to Elijah, "She doesn't know anything about the bond?" The bond? What kind of bond?
"It's a legend, why do the witches persecute her?" Elijah fended off and turned back to his informant, who looked at me and back at him, "Because she looks a lot like Estella and because she has a gift that is considered very rare, someone like her who is trained can be dangerous to a vampire and that's what they want, they want to create the ultimate weapon" with these words he closed the explanation and looked at me.
His brown eyes seemed almost apologetic, as he pushed past Elijah and stopped in front of me, "Be careful who you trust" with this warning he walked past me and left the catacombs. Who was Estella? And why did the witches think that I would help them, after all they had done?

Elijah POV:
Ella looked at me, "Who is Estella?" she demanded to know from me that it was no coincidence that she looked like Estella, had become clear to me the moment after my contact had revealed to me that she, young woman in front of me, was not only paranormally gifted, but also seemed to be attached to me. Was the legend more than just a fairy tale? "That's not important now, we have to move on" I answered and wanted to give her my hand so that she could find a foothold on the steps in front of us, but she dodged my attempt as if I had tried to hit her. She ran up the stairs while I followed her and reviewed the minutes before my informant came. The sad look in her eyes, the cryptic answer that her family was not here, not in this world, stuck, what exactly did she mean by that?
In front of the entrance of the catacombs not only Ella was waiting for me, but also an angry security employee who spoke to Ella in fast German and she answered him just as quickly and pointed to me, I could not follow them so fast. Instead, I spent my time in France, England, Scotland, and the States.
"You forget that you saw us here" I manipulated the security guard, and his expression changed too expressionlessly, it was easier to make him forget that we had ever been here than to have a believable story ready.

On the train in a shielded compartment, I checked the route I had planned, and Ella sat opposite me, she had not said a word since the security employee had spoken to her, every time I had come close to her physically, she had avoided me. Even an innocent streak of her hands caused her downright panic, when I considered her vital values, the faster heartbeat, goosebumps, and her posture.
Instead of looking at me, she looked outside, seemed to see the train station that slowly but surely disappeared from view. "Who was Estella?" Her voice broke the silence, and she looked at me, her face was emotionless, I could tell from her posture that she deliberately kept her face emotionless. "Someone I knew," I replied simply, I did not want to reveal to strangers how much she had meant to me and how much she reminded me of her. When she did not ask any more questions, I decided to ask her a few questions. "I noticed that you don't like to touch, does that have to do with the 6th sense?" I inquired what she was looking at, her gaze could not be interpreted. "I don't like to be touched by people, it has nothing to do with the 6th sense" she answered me and averted her gaze, which was a sign for me that she did not want to answer any more questions. I had no idea at that time that it was the missing piece of the puzzle.

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

We spent the train ride in silence, she had not responded to any of my attempts to start a conversation. Now she sat opposite me in my private jet and tried to hide the fact that she almost fell asleep, "I don't plan to kill you or anything related to ending your life, you can trust me" I revealed my intentions to her, whereupon she looked at me, "Trust is earned, I have no choice if I don't want to end up dead" she answered me and revealed to me, why she was here. Why she had not refused to accompany me, she was scared she might get killed otherwise. "Who was Estella?" Ella asked me again and looked at me, how could I explain that to her? I deliberately kept my facial expression neutral, "Someone who was important to me and was murdered" I answered her and she seemed affected, "I'm sorry" she expressed her condolences to me, it sounded honest and even though it had already been years, I had never been able to shake off the feeling that she could sit next to me at any minute and remind me not always going out the door dressed in suits.
Ella did not ask any further and gave me the space to elaborate further on what my informant had revealed. "Is that why you decided that I should come to the States with you? Because I resemble her in a way?" she asked after a while and looked at me questioningly, that was partly the reason, "No, the witches are threatening my family, for several years they have been trying to find something to wipe out my family" I denied her question.

Before she could ask me another question, the co-pilot approached me and told me that I was needed in the cockpit. I excused myself with a nod in her direction and followed my co-pilot to find out more. "We have to land in London, a storm front was predicted and it's too risky" the route change was explained to me. "All right" I agreed to the change and left the cockpit, Ella had fallen asleep. Next to her on the chair was a blanket and I carefully put it over her.
After I sat down again, I went through the data that my contact person had sent me, if I interpreted the data correctly, then Ella had been on the run from the witches for 3 years, no previous records of her could be located, it was as if she had suddenly appeared 3 years ago. But that wasn't possible, was it?

"Still the suits" Estella's voice sounded behind me, I turned around and there she stood in front of me, her long light blonde curls framing her face and she smiled. How much had I missed that smile. "You once told me yourself that you find me irresistible in it," I reminded her with a smile on my lips. The surroundings were blurred, I paid no attention to this circumstance. Only Estella in front of me was important.
"That's true, but that's not why I'm here," she replied with a smile and yet the smile did not reach her eyes, her green eyes in which I was always immersed. "You have to let go of me Eli, it breaks my heart to see you suffer every day," she told me Well, but I could not. I would never be able to love anyone again, my heart had grown cold. No one was able to warm it up again. "You will be able to open your heart one day, please let me go Elijah" Estella asked me again and a moment later I was standing right in front of me, I could almost feel her warmth. "Please"...

I opened my eyes, I was still in the jet and Ella was sleeping opposite me, only now did I have the opportunity to examine her more closely. The dark circles under her eyes told me that she had been sleeping badly for weeks, maybe even months, and her glasses partially hid them. Had I just dreamed it? That Estella had asked me to open my heart?
It was almost impossible; I could not open my heart again to let it be torn to pieces by the inevitable. People were dying, they were dying every day, and I could not let anyone in again, if you were loved, it made you indescribably vulnerable and that is exactly what I could not and did not want to be. Vulnerable.
The death of Estella had taken away my faith in love, we had plans and she had been torn from life. A noise made me sit up and take notice, Ella was awake and on her way to the toilet, I had not even noticed that she had gotten up. When she came back, I gave me to sleep, "I know you're not sleeping" she accused me with a smile in her voice, but when I opened my eyes, there was nothing to be seen, just a woman who looked like she could faint at any moment. "What betrayed me?" I informed myself and tilted my upper body closer to the table. "The frown, unless that's standard" was her answer to my question about what had betrayed me, and she sounded like Niklaus.
"Do you have siblings?" I asked about her life, whereupon she looked at me suspiciously, she was even more suspicious than Niklaus. "Didn't the private detective find out?" she informed herself and examined the jet's furnishings so that she did not have to look any longer. "The private detective hasn't been able to find out very much and I would like to get an idea of the woman, in whom the witches have a lot of interest, that they spare neither expense nor effort," I answered her and her expression changed, instead of indifference I could read from her face, which she knew more than she said.
"I didn't even know until today that I could supposedly be dangerous if I was trained properly, although I don't know what about someone who can feel deceased souls and know when someone is following you, should be dangerous," she defended herself, but I knew that she was hiding something from me. She knew something and did not want to tell me.

It amazed me that she knew when someone was chasing her, was that also the reason she did not like to be touched by others? I had already noticed that she did not want to be touched by me or other people. I had already noticed her ability to get lost in the crowd and become downright invisible.
"Then why do I have the impression that you know more than you say?" I asked, whereupon she looked at me with a shrug of the shoulders, "I have no idea" Ella replied and interrupted the look contact. "You are aware that you have a target on your back?" I started and Ella looked at me, "I know what it's like to have a target on your back, it's nothing new" was her answer and pain resonated in her voice. Who was Ella van der Velden? What was she hiding?

Ella POV:

The hours passed, and Elijah no longer bothered to start a conversation. His warning that I had a target on my back was superfluous. I had always had a target on my back since I was a child, simply because I was quiet. Because I was Dutch, I was bullied and told I was stupid. He did not even begin to suspect how difficult it was for me to bear his closeness. His presence alone was so clearly felt, I had a powerful desire to go away, away from this warmth, this tingling sensation and the feeling of being safe here. I was not. Once he knew the truth, he would either kill me himself or hand me over to the witches to kill me. Just like they had already tried 3 years ago...

Chapter Text

Ella POV:

3 years ago:
The pain went through my body like lightning, I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't even scream, everything was swallowed up by the pain. "Cooperate and the pain stops" Monique's words reached my ears, she seemed to be standing in front of me, but I could hardly recognize her, except for blurred contours, everything remained blurred.
"No..." I laboriously managed to say that I would never help, do anything for the person who had torn me out of my life and now let me relive my worst memories every time the bones broke, just to drive me to the brink of death.
Finally, they let go of me and left me alone, my whole body hurt, everything hurt. "How long do you want to torture her? She won't cooperate, we've been trying to break her for 3 weeks, she's not the right one," the words got through to me, but my head felt like it was wrapped in cotton wool. Suddenly, I was lifted up and taken away wherever I had been. Later, when I gained consciousness, I stared into the face of someone I never expected...

With difficulty I was able to push back the memories, I couldn't afford to fall into the deep hole now. Even though my body was screaming for sleep, the rings under my eyes clearly testified that I didn't sleep much, I couldn't trust now that he wasn't just pursuing his own goals. My reflection looked at me, my blue eyes were red from fatigue, the dark circles under my eyes became deeper and darker, my hair resembled a bird's nest. Elijah had just been asleep when I had snuck into the small toilet of his jet, now I was sitting here on the toilet staring at my reflection as if it could tell me why I had dreamed again of the witches who had tortured me and with their torture had added scars that I would carry for the rest of my life.
Luckily, I couldn't remember every detail, otherwise I probably would have gone mad by now. It was enough that my back was marked.
"Is everything okay?" Elijah's question tore me out of my thoughts, "Yes, just a moment" I shouted playfully awake, and it sounded wrong, too bright and above all too much energy, for someone who had hardly slept and now had to sit opposite him again because the jet would soon start landing.

When I sank into the chair, I could feel his gaze on me, even if I avoided his gaze, I was too aware of his presence. This could only lead to a catastrophe; especially how long could I hide the fact that I was not from this world? I had to be careful not to spill the beans.
The landing and the subsequent car ride to New Orleans was mainly in silence, just as he was driving along a country road, he cleared his throat and informed me, "I have had a room prepared for you where you can stay for the time being, I expect you not to move through the French Quarter without my company". His plea sounded more like an order and while I continued to look out of the window, the coldness of the glass penetrated my scalp soothingly. "I don't intend to go anywhere at all," I answered him and doggedly added to myself, otherwise I'll be dead faster than I can say bye.
"You're not a prisoner, but it's safer for you not to go outside unaccompanied," Elijah tried to explain himself, but it sounded the same to me. I didn't say anything, what could I say? I felt his gaze on me, even if only for a second, but the tingling became more intense again and I didn't want that feeling, I didn't want to know when he was looking at me, when he was around, it was just too much.
All because he had touched me once and given me an electric shock, it hadn't been painful, but since then his presence had felt tripled for me.

The landscape changed visibly and soon the first houses came into view. I didn't think I'd be here again, I had actually planned never to have to set foot on American soil again. How wrong I was.
Elijah drove up a driveway, I recognized the building as the mansion that had burned down back then, now I had proof for myself that something had gone very differently than I remembered. His sister Freya was waiting at the front door. Elijah turned off the engine and got out, probably to get his suitcase out of the trunk, but when I got out as well, he also had my gym bag with him, with the clothes I got to call my own. In addition to his much more expensive suitcase, it was clear to see how cheap my sports bag was. With signs of use, I didn't dare to look at him, I didn't want to show him how shameful it was for me to see how shabby the bag looked now. As if he cared for that at all. After all I was only a means to an end, an end I didn’t even dare to think of.
"Freya, I would like to introduce you to Ella" he greeted his sister as he walked with big steps towards his waiting sister and I couldn't do anything else but follow him and hope that no one noticed, that I didn't look closely at the surroundings, as if I was seeing everything for the first time and as one would expect, to look for a way to escape. Others would probably look for an escape if I were me, but I knew better. Either Elijah would get ahead of the witches and kill me, or the witches would continue where she had left off 3 years ago, even if only by force, not voluntarily.

"Hello Ella" Freya greeted me and looked at her brother and me, while I stood two steps away from him on the veranda, I couldn't stand him any closer. The tingling, the warmth, it felt weird, the muscles in my legs felt like pudding and all because a man was standing next to me. "My brother doesn't bite, if you're worried about it," she added, which he testified to with a hint of a smile. No, he wouldn't bite me, but if he knew the truth, either put me in the insane asylum or worse. "I'm aware of this fact, I don't want to offend anyone, but I don't like to stand too close to others" I tried to talk myself out of it, I didn't tell that his presence next to me caused the urge to run as far away from him as possible. It was confusing enough for me how much his presence affected my nerves, I just managed to prevent him from seeing how much my hands were shaking if I didn't suppress it and press them together behind my back. Why did he of all people have this effect on me? I hadn't noticed Kol so strongly and Freya's presence didn't have the same strong effect as he did.

Elijah POV:

Freya looked at me when Ella explained her reason for deliberately positioning herself away from me, her unspoken question remained unanswered for the time being, I planned to show Ella her room, make sure that she ate something and then talk to my family about the latest developments. Above all, Freya's input was very important, she had a good sense of how much Ella was really talented, or whether it had just been a lie on the part of my informant, because one thing could not be bought. Loyalty.
After showing Ella the room, putting her bag on the bed, and instructing one of our servants, who were richly paid for it, to bring her some food, I left the room, leaving her alone. The sigh of relief on her part and the fact that she visibly relaxed did not escape me as I looked back for a brief moment before I went to the living room on the ground floor, where Freya was waiting for me.
"She's definitely gifted" Freya gave me her verdict on Ella, although she had only seen her for a few minutes, her assessment was important to me. "I'm going to need some blood to determine what exactly she is, but she's not a witch," my sister added as she sat down in one of the armchairs and looked at me. I sank into one of the armchairs opposite her, already expecting her to address the resemblance to Estella. "When you called me and told me about her, you forgot to mention that she looks like Estella, not exactly like her but she has familiar features," she said, which her looks had already told me, she had noticed the resemblance.
"She's not Estella, even if at first I thought I saw her in front of me, but she's not" I reassured her, the fact that she looked like my deceased great love didn't cloud my judgment. I forbade myself to be distracted by it. I would find out in the next few days what she knew, why there were no previous records of her. That's why I had given her the room next to mine. If she had contact with the witch, I would find out soon enough and draw my conclusions that I would learn something different about her, I had no idea at that time.

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

After a long day, I decided to grab a drink before trying to get some sleep, not that I needed it, it was easier to avoid the jet lag when I was back from Europe. In the kitchen I found Ella, sitting at the kitchen table and looking outside, looking outside, a glass of water on the table in front of her. One cardigan hid her pajamas for the most part. "Not tired yet?" with this question, I made my presence noticeable, but there was no reaction from Ella, as if she had already known that I was here, although she had not been able to see me in the reflection of the glass. "Jetlag" was her monosyllabic answer and when I sat down opposite her, she looked at me, her eyes behind her glasses looked tired and yet she could not sleep. "Am I allowed to move freely in the house, or do I have to ask for permission?" she asked, and her sarcastic undertone did not escape me. "I seem to remember that I talked about the fact that you are not allowed to leave the house without me," I countered and watched her facial expressions. "And I had replied that I didn't intend to leave the house anyway," she reminded me, and it sounded as if she wanted to add something but then did not. I let the brown liquid in the glass turn back and forth, for a few seconds I concentrated on the liquid and not on the person sitting opposite me. Why did she fascinate me so much? My original plan had been to get some whiskey and then try to get some sleep to counteract the jet lag, but when I found her sitting here, I had not been able to resist the temptation to learn more about her.

It was as if an invisible thread kept pulling me to her, something about her would not let me go. Maybe it had been because she seemed lonely and lost. Her words came back to my mind when she had lit a candle for her family. It sounded as if she had no one here, no friends or family.
"No plans to not even leave the house to get some fresh air in the garden?" I asked and let my gaze wander from my glass to her, Ella looked at me with a suspicious expression. As if she was trying to analyze me. "No" came the answer and she stood up, "Good night" she wished me while she left the kitchen, "Welteruste" I wished her in Dutch and the look she gave me I could almost rate as amused. She left me alone and I listened to her footsteps as they faded away over the stairs and then into the room.
I followed her example and left the kitchen, I could not deny it, something about her attracted me, like an invisible bond that drew me to her. Could the legend be true after all? No, I could not, I could not imagine that I would walk on this earth for over one thousand years and then not have found my counterpart.

The next morning brought Freya and Niklaus for breakfast, even though the latter was more interested in who the woman was who was sitting at the kitchen table and had to undergo an interrogation by Niklaus. "So, you want to tell me that Elijah decided to fly you here in a private jet? Without telling you the reason?" he summed up just as I entered the kitchen. "As I said before, I don't know what your brother's reasons are, ask him yourself" Ella answered him and her facial expression was neutral, she had learned to keep her facial expressions under control, even when my brother sat opposite her and looked at her.
"And of course you don't know why the witches are interested in you," Niklaus added and leaned closer to her, "But I don't believe you." Ella, for her part, did not change her posture, she remained seated with her arms crossed in front of her chest and remained silent. "Niklaus, is this your way of showing our guest hospitality?" I intervened in the conversation and gave my brother a look that should make him understand that he should be careful what he did. I knew that Ella knew more than she revealed, but I did not know the reason yet. But I would find out. Eventually.

Niklaus looked at me, I could tell from his posture that he was planning something. "How old are you? My brother usually prefers older women" he continued to tease while Ella looked at him and tilted her head to the side, "My age doesn't matter, you're just looking for a way to provoke your brother, why?" she had seen through him and while Niklaus left the kitchen, I put her toast on the table. "You should eat something" I reminded her that they were eating something, something she seemed to forget when I remembered how emaciated she had felt when I had brought her to our hotel room in Germany.
"Are you my babysitter now?" she addressed the first words to me, while I sat down opposite her on the chair, "No, but unlike me, your body needs food to survive and you will need your energy" I answered her and let my gaze wander through the kitchen, in my mind, making a list of what still needed to be obtained, so that Ella had enough food available for the time being. As long as we did not know what her gift was and why the witches were after her, we could not be too careful.
"Freya wants to do a test later so that we can find out why the witches are after you," I told her about today's planning. "Okay, I'll be there" was her answer while she reluctantly ate the toast, I averted my gaze and looked out the window into the garden, the swimming pool had just been cleaned today, maybe she wanted to swim a few laps later, the weather was ideal for it, but when I suggested it to her, she promptly choked on the toast. The panic in her eyes did not escape me. What was she afraid of?

Ella POV:
I could not help but look at Elijah wide-eyed, go swimming? In the swimming pool? Never! I was just able to keep myself from never saying anything. "No thanks, thank you very much for the offer" I turned down the offer and managed to sound reasonably normal and not like a hoarse owl. He had wished me early in the morning, around 2 o'clock in the morning, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, that he had wished me good night in Dutch, which had triggered homesickness and the longing for human closeness in me. It frightened me how strong its influence was on my emotional world. How could I keep this man at a distance? How could I prevent him from finding out why the witches were looking for me? Even if I could not say for sure, I had a hunch, but I could not see it under my eyes. Hopefully, Freya's test will not reveal anything out of the ordinary. But my feelings told me the opposite. Unfortunately, my feeling had been right too often that I could just ignore it.

"Well, I don't intend to drown you in the swimming pool" Klaus revealed to me while he bent over his brother and whispered something in his ear, "Niklaus, I warn you, hurt a hair on her and you will regret it" he answered him while he continued to look at me. Why did he defend me? It was a strange feeling, Elijah, of all the people, for whom his family was especially important, was protecting me, a stranger. "What does she have that I don't have?" Klaus amused himself, pulled up a chair, and sat down next to me on the chair. His presence was similar to Elijah's, but he was less present, his presence was a slight tingling. I moved away from him a bit; he was too close to me. Neither Elijah nor Klaus missed it, but neither of them addressed it. "Do you know that the women in my brother's life tend to die often?" he informed me, I looked at him. "What exactly do you want to know from me?" I asked him, I had neither the desire nor the energy to get involved in his games and when he put his hand on my right hand, I had to resist the impulse not to pull my hand away immediately. His touch confirmed what my feeling had already told me; he saw me as a threat and would not hesitate for a minute to kill me. I pulled my hand out from under his and he looked at me even more intensely.

"I hope for your sake that you tell the truth, women in my brother's life tend to come to a brutal end," he warned me, while his words were a veiled threat to me. At that time, I had no idea that he had something to do with the death of Estella. "Niklaus, I don't like to repeat myself," Elijah joined in the conversation, he seemed anything but pleased about how close his brother was to me. But why? I was nothing more than a means to an end. The witches wanted to get hold of me and if he could prevent this, he was one step ahead of them, so why did he care that I ate something, and that Klaus did not get on my nerves too much? Did it have to do with this connection that seemed to exist between us?

Chapter Text

Ella POV:

In the early afternoon, Freya had prepared everything for her test, the only thing she needed from me was a few drops of blood. This revelation had given me a queasy feeling, apart from the fact that Klaus had made it his mission to follow me every step of the way, just now I had locked myself in the toilet, which also had a shower. That was something I didn't know from my homeland. "Niklaus, what exactly is this supposed to pursue?" I heard Elijah outside the door, he had tried unsuccessfully to stop his brother from pushing me closer to him. Why not? "Just because you're distracted by a pretty face that looks like your beloved Estella doesn't mean that I don't even begin to believe that she doesn't know what the witches want from her," Klaus' voice penetrated through the door. "And that's why you follow our guest to the toilet? That being said, I'm not going to be distracted, I've already informed you that someone drugged her, or have you already forgotten that?" Elijah defended himself, I didn't know what Elijah would be distracted by, but certainly not me.
When I left the toilet after what felt like an eternity, Elijah was waiting for me, Klaus was not to be seen, but he was still in the house, I could still feel his presence, it was as if someone was watching you, but if you looked around, there was no one there.

"I want to apologize for my brother," he apologized for his brother's behavior, "Isn't Klaus old enough to make his own decisions? Apart from that, you should rather make sure that I can't get my hands on wood, otherwise he'll regret it," I answered him, whereupon he looked at me amused, probably wondering how a person like me would take on Klaus. But if there was no other way, I would do it. Elijah gave way back to the living room, where Klaus had made himself comfortable on one of the armchairs and was playing with a wooden stake. "You shouldn't make such big noises, darling," he addressed me and added, "Elijah won't always be able to protect you, Estella has already had to experience that." The way he emphasized her name, his broad grin, a suspicion crept over me, did it have something to do with her untimely death? Instead of answering him, I stepped closer to him and took the wooden stake out of his hand and rammed it into his left leg with all my might. "I don't rely on being protected by anyone, push myself one more time, touch me one more time without my permission and the stake will land in your best piece!" I clarified, I was tired of being pushed around by others.

Klaus stared at me as if he wanted to rip my head off, "You should have listened to me better, Niklaus," Elijah remarked with a smile, while Klaus continued to give me looks of death. While I wasn't impressed by his looks, I wondered, where had I gotten the courage from? "Would you mind following me? Freya would like to perform the spell and I for one don't want to enjoy a wooden stake in one of my extremities in the near future," Elijah begged me as he pointed towards the stairs and was careful not to touch me. "You don't need to, you already have a stick in your ass" Klaus shouted behind me as I climbed the stairs, I still didn't know where I had gotten the courage or strength to ram the wood into his leg, but it felt good. He had been on my nerves all morning, had made remarks again and again, it was just too much. Arriving on the first floor, Freya was already waiting for her brother and me, on the questioning look she threw at her brother behind me, he explained to her that Klaus had provoked and had a wooden stake in his leg for it.

The room where she had prepared something on a table was furnished with candles and an old parchment. There were signs drawn on it that I had never seen before, but I wasn't a witch either and hadn't been alive for over 1000 years like Freya. If that was true at all, so much didn't match the series I used to watch. "Isn't there a German proverb, something like still waters..." Elijah informed me, whereupon I completed the proverb. "are deep and this means that just because someone stays quiet for a long time does not mean that they cannot be dangerous". Whereupon Freya threw a look at Elijah that I couldn't interpret and then looked at me. "You're not a native speaker?" she asked me, "Which language?" I answered her with a counter-question, because I didn't know which language she meant. "German" and the way she answered me, I had the uneasy feeling that she knew something I didn't know and just like Elijah stiffened, neither did he. "German is my mother tongue, I was born in Germany and grew up there until I was 18, then I moved to the Netherlands," I replied honestly, because Elijah also knew where I had been born. My revelation made the candles flare up and then they went out.

Elijah stepped over to his sister, who had turned pale and had to hold on to the table, "I have to be sure it's true, but I think I know why the Treme Coven is very interested in her," she let her brother know and prepared the spell by dripping some of his blood onto the parchment. After she had dropped a few drops from my thumb of my left hand on the parchment with a needle and spoke words that I did not understand, nothing happened at first. But then the blood moved towards each other and performed a strange dance until it merged into a symbol. Should blood do that? Merge? "What does that mean?" Elijah informed himself, while Klaus approached from below and also entered the room, he gave me a murderous look and stepped over to his brother.
"I have to look it up, I haven't seen this symbol before" Freya answered him and just the look she threw in my direction triggered an uneasy feeling in me. Something was wrong and I wasn't the only one to notice it.
Klaus looked at me and let his gaze wander between me and Elijah, it was as if he was up to something, even though I knew how dangerous he was, I couldn't stand his remarks, the touches from him for a minute longer. Just thinking about how he had put his hand on mine and the feeling of wanting to run away, the cold that had penetrated my skin from his touch, it had been too much.

Elijah POV:

Freya came back with a worried look, she was holding one of our mother's grimoires in her hand. "This symbol has two meanings," she shared the information she had just read in the book, "On the one hand, it means that two souls are connected to each other, a so-called soul bond, and on the other hand, that we are dealing with a very dangerous ancient power, no one has been able to wander between worlds for centuries." Ella held her breath for a few seconds, when I looked at her, she stared at the symbol on the parchment. "What exactly does this soul bond mean?" Niklaus demanded to know, whereupon Freya looked at Ella. "I would like to do another test with her first," she informed us, which was the sign for us to wait in the hallway. Niklaus leaned against the wall opposite me and examined the hole left by the stake. "She owes me a new pair of jeans" he began the conversation about Ella, it had surprised me that she had dared to take the stake out of his hand and drive it into his leg with force, "You owe her an apology, she asked you several times to stop pressing, but you ignored her" I reminded him, I should have intervened earlier, but Ella had proven that she didn't need my help, even though I hadn't missed how uncomfortable his touches had been for her.

"You can come back in" Freya's voice reached my ear and when I re-entered, it was noticeable, especially with Ella, that whatever Freya had to say hit like a bomb, because she seemed nervous, she tugged at the sleeves of her sweater and didn't seem to know what to do with the nervous energy. "Another test confirmed what I already suspected, Elijah and Ella are bound together by a soul bond" Freya dropped the bombshell for me as well. A soul bond? The old legend was real, wasn't it? "But I also found out why the Treme Coven in particular is so interested in her, she has the blood of a worldwalker, someone who can switch between the worlds of the living and the dead without danger," she added and when my gaze met Ella's, I could read fear in it, she was afraid.
I didn't suspect at the time that it didn't just have to do with the revelations.

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

I handed Freya her tea while we had gathered in the kitchen to discuss what the revelations meant, even Niklaus had sat down with him, while sitting next to Freya, I sat down next to Ella and put a cup of tea in front of her as well. She had not said anything since Freya had revealed what the two tests had revealed and had just now buried her hands in the pockets of her sweater. "Always so talkative?" Niklaus informed herself and the look with which she answered him was anything but friendly, perhaps also because Niklaus had already told her that unfortunately he could not kill her, because her life was connected to mine and he would otherwise lose part of his family, which he did not want. "You've already made it clear, if I put that even one step wrong, you find a way to kill me without losing your brother, what do you expect me to answer to that?" Ella probed, she sounded confident, but her body language showed me the opposite. "Niklaus, may I remind you that I can always decide to help the witches kill you if you hurt a hair of her," I reminded him, I had planned to kill him during the ritual of freeing his hybrid side, that he was not keeping my siblings at the bottom of the ocean at the time, had kept me from doing so. "What did you promise him to protect you and threaten his own flesh and blood?" Niklaus addressed his words to Ella but looked at me. Instead of answering him, she took a sip of her tea, "Ah, wonderful, Nik is back in his element" Kol made himself known at that moment, so he had successfully managed to steer the people who had been chasing Ella on the wrong track and they had come to an early end.

"Is it true that you rammed a wooden stake into his leg?" he directed his next words to Ella. He did not wait for an answer but sat down with us and seemed to enjoy it very much that a person, Niklaus, had shown his limits. "And I didn't even do anything to deserve it," my brother confirmed to our younger brother, and he exchanged a look with Freya, so Freya had told him. While Kol let Freya bring her up to date, Ella drank her tea. "Soul bond? That is even rarer than when you find your soulmate," Kol remarked with surprise in his voice, "And then a worlds wanderer, I wouldn't have thought when I found you as a surprise for my brother." Yes, his surprise, even if I could not really understand what had made him do it, the unpredictability made Kol. Much to my chagrin. "Is there a difference?" Ella asked my brother, and he looked at her with a big smile, "Of course! Soulmates are attracted to each other and usually stay together for life, but with a soul bond it is more complex, in your case it is so that you, the human in this bond, will not die, you will have the same characteristics as my brother over time, heal faster, no longer age, maybe even, better ears, there has never been the combination of human and vampire, so I can't say for sure what exactly will happen, but the fact that you're a Worlds Wanderer explains why the Treme Circle is after you," Kol answered her honestly and didn't joke at her expense. Something I had not expected from him, but he had not behaved typically in Germany either, when he had guessed what the situation had to be like for Ella. Or did he know more than he pretended?

"How do you know that?" Niklaus wanted to know from Kol, to which Kol replied as if he were talking to a toddler, "I worked with witches in Europe for years, especially at the time when Europe as we know it today did not exist and there were rumors, legends and legends about worlds of wanderers, but there has never been today's case involving our dear brother". "I think that even in Dutch, there is an expression for it," he directed his gaze at Ella, "If there is one, I don't know it, I learned Dutch as a second language, not as my mother tongue," she answered him, whereupon Niklaus wanted to know from her what she meant, whereupon she explained to him that she had learned German as her mother tongue, she was supposed to learn English at school, but the lessons were so boring that she had never learned it and only after she had learned Dutch had she taught herself English. This even earned Niklaus astonishment.
The only thing I noticed was her slight accent when she spoke English, but I did not think she had taught herself English, either she had amazing linguistic talent, or she had a better base than she thought she did.
"What kind of legends have you heard about Worlds Wanderer?" I asked him, I knew that he had collaborated with witches for years to find a dagger for Niklaus. The last status was that he had not been successful.

"The legends were different, but they were all the same in one respect, a World Wanderer is dangerous in the wrong hands and if you can sacrifice someone like that, the circle for which the Wanderer is sacrificed becomes more powerful" Kol summed up, which meant that Ella not only had a target on her back, someone was trying to kill her, for the fact that she was a wanderer of the worlds. "Congratulations, Elijah, you've laughed yourself into a real treasure" Niklaus commented on the last revelations, "Can't you trade family members?" Ella murmured next to me while she drank her tea. Niklaus looked at her accordingly friendly, Kol suppressed himself with difficulty, his broad grin, "Unfortunately not" I answered her question, and she gave me a look that I almost interpreted as pity. While Kol and Niklaus were talking about what steps had to be taken now, Ella left our small group and sat down on the terrace, probably she needed some fresh air and time for herself, a lot of information had rained down on her. She still had to process a lot.

Ella POV:

I was soul-bound to a vampire, not just any vampire, but a primordial vampire and then Elijah Mikaelson. If I had previously suspected that I was either dreaming or going crazy, then I now had the proof. I was definitely going crazy. To my right were several beach chairs and I let myself sink into one of them, alone for a few minutes, which was what I needed now. So much information, I was bound to Elijah anyway, something Klaus in particular did not like, I had not missed his look when Kol revealed what exactly that meant and of course it was something rare, something I had not expected. How should I navigate this? I did not even know if I wanted to live this life as a human being at all, I never thought I might live forever. I had to fight against the black hole repeatedly, I was already running out of strength, how was I supposed to do that repeatedly? I did not belong here, unlike Elijah, I did not have a family and even though he would probably feel responsible for me now, I was not his responsibility.
A fact where he would not agree with me if I assessed him even remotely correctly. And as if I had guessed it, not only the hairs on the back of my neck and the tingling sensation that came closer to said vampire told me, but also that Klaus called after him to make sure that I did not step out of line. Said vampire did not answer his brother.

"May I sit down?" he asked me before he sat down in the chair to my left. How could one be so calm when one had learned that he was bonded to a stranger? That they would never get rid of this stranger? "This is your house, or the family's, I don't think I have any right to refuse you to sit here," I replied, whereupon he looked at me, I did not like it when he looked at me as if he wanted to fathom me.
"That was quite a lot of information," he remarked the obvious, while I wondered where I got the peace from when my inner self felt like I was on a roller coaster. On the one hand, I wanted to scream, then cry and hide somewhere where I would not be found for the next few days, but none of that was even remotely possible.
I did not answer him, what should I answer? My head was empty, I could imagine what Klaus had said after I left the kitchen, he did not like me, and I did not really like him. "And Klaus must have been very pleased to learn that he can't just stage a fatal accident," I muttered more to myself, but of course he heard me. "You seem to have a good knowledge of human nature," he commented on my remark, I looked at him, he watched me. "He has already made it clear what he thinks of me, so it is a logical conclusion that he has already planned a way for me to look at the radishes from below ahead of time" I reminded him and judging by his confused expression, he didn't know the expression, looking at the radishes from below or I used it in the wrong way, English was Spanish for me from time to time.

"But he won't plan your untimely demise, also because it's clear that there is no way to destroy the bond, which means that you now have no choice but to become part of the family," he assured me, to which I could only express my condolences. "My condolences" I remarked dryly and tried to banish my feelings from my voice. "You're not a very positive person," Elijah said and even though I focused on the green area in front of me, I felt his gaze on me. How could you be positive when you heard over and over again that you were boring, useless, stupid, and so much more? I always tried to see the positives, not to be swallowed up by the black hole, but it was hard, and I was slowly running out of air. But I did not want to show him that, because then he felt even more called to want to help me. "That's hard for me at the moment, give me a day and I'm much more positive" was my answer, while I still focused on the green area, not that I could see much more than green and leaves, it was too far away for that. "Then please explain to me why you express your condolences to me?" he asked me and touched my left hand, which successfully drew my gaze from green to him, to his deep brown eyes, which seemed to see so much more than what I pretended to see.
"Because I'm probably the most boring person on this planet and I don't want anyone to be tied to me, so Klaus, should find a spot where I should live, I won't stand in the way" I answered and yet I had the feeling that I had said so much more. But the words I had really wanted to say remained unspoken. Because I do not come from this world, because I am terrified of letting someone get close to me, trusting someone, because I have always fallen flat on my face with it, there is no one who likes me the way I am, I always have to pretend...

Chapter Text

Ella POV:

"You think very negatively of yourself" Elijah remarked and compassion resonated in his voice. He had compassion for me. It felt strange, someone felt sympathetic to me and at the same time I felt vulnerable and naked, even though I had clothes on. With a few words, he had laid bare something that others had never succeeded. Before he could analyze me further, I released my hand from his and folded it onto my lap, the warmth that had emanated from his touch still reverberating. "I'm sorry if I got too close to you," the original vampire apologized to me, while I tried to make my voice sound as neutral as possible but only managed to answer him after several attempts. "You didn't offend me too much, I only told the truth" I stuck to my statement, I knew that it was not 100% true, I certainly had interesting qualities, but I couldn't and didn't want to discuss them with a man who had lived the story and I know, for interesting people had met, then I fell into nothingness. God, what a wretch I was! I would love to slap myself. "Whose truth did you name? Your own, or the truth of others?" Elijah informed me, I took a deep breath and looked at him. "Don't try to analyze me" I asked him and averted my gaze; I heard the chair creak under his weight. "I'm not trying to analyze you, it's clear that it's not so easy to accept, not to lead a normal life," he replied to me.

I closed my eyes for a moment, for a single moment I could imagine myself alone, but the reality was different. "I'm a world wanderer, I can feel the presence of deceased people, I know when, who's behind me, normal is the last thing on my mind," I answered him and looked in his direction. I did not know what he was thinking, what he was feeling, because all that was hidden behind a mask. "Then you know when one of my siblings or I will be around?" Elijah asked with astonishment in his voice, "Yes" was my simple answer, I could pretend that it was not, but my behavior would give me away. I did not want to look at him, so I averted my gaze and focused on the green again. Why was it so difficult for me to withstand his gaze? If he had wanted to do something for me, he would have had enough opportunities to do so. "How long have you been able to do this?" followed the next question, "As long as I can remember, I know when someone is behind me or when someone has no good intentions, it just doesn't really help" I answered his question and noticed too late that my hand stroked my right forearm, over the scar that would always remind me of Denise, who had simply cut my arm open with a knife from a sharpener for no reason. I pulled my hand off my arm, hopefully he had not noticed.

Elijah had kept an eye on me too often today anyway. Throughout the morning, when Klaus had kept getting on my nerves, had pushed me to his brother repeatedly, that I had even fled to the toilet just to get out of his immediate vicinity.
Elijah did not ask any further and I did not dare to look in his direction, he seemed calm, calm and did not seem to mind that he now had a human on his cheek, for the rest of his infinite life. As I understood Kol, there was no way to undo this bond, it had come into being, for no apparent reason. I had no way to ever get my old life back, my family, I would never see them again and this realization hit me harder than I thought, I had thought that I had already come to terms with it, but the pain that cut through my soul was still as strong as it was 3 years ago. Would it ever get less? Maybe in one hundred years. But now I had a family of vampires and a witch, even though I would probably never be part of a family. Klaus did not like me for that. I did not even need to have a gift for that, he was noticeably clear that he did not like me. "Is that the reason you avoid being touched by others?" said vampire probed and I could feel his gaze on me. Could I tell him that most of the touches felt uncomfortable? That especially Klaus' touch felt as if I wanted to crawl out of my skin? That when he touched me, my skin felt like it was on fire.
"Partly, some feel like I want to crawl out of my skin, while others feel like my skin is on fire," I replied honestly, wondering at myself why I answered him so honestly, while I had always been able to fob others off with vague answers. Was that because of the bond? Of which I still had not quite understood what exactly that meant. "That explains why you stabbed Niklaus with looks," he remarked dryly, and his voice betrayed no emotion. What would I give to be able to banish my emotions from my voice, "I stabbed him with looks, because he got on my nerves, and I don't like to be called the person of" I corrected him. I did not want to be called a person of. It was nerve-racking enough to know that I was bound to him in any way.

Elijah POV:

"I've already told my brother to address you by your name and also not to harass you," I informed her as I received the information that she could not only sense when someone was around and whether they had good or bad intentions, but also how it felt to her. when someone touched them.
It explained her reaction when someone touched her, but neither with Kol nor with me, she had reacted the way she did with Niklaus. How could I offer her comfort if she did not let anyone get close to her? The news was certainly not easy to process.
"How do you deal with the news that you now have a human hanging on your cheek?" she asked me, looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and fear? If I interpreted her expression correctly, "Do you intend to put yourself in unnecessary danger just like my brother?" I asked her in turn, which elicited a smile from her. "The only danger I would expose myself to would be to cut myself on paper" was her answer and she stood up, without casting another glance at me, she entered the house again and I heard her footsteps go up the stairs and she went into her room, "I can only get sick of boredom, start arguing with Klaus," she added and closed the door.

This woman was a book with seven seals, "Who are you really Ella?" I murmured more to myself, I had to be clear about whether I had saved her from the persecutors to be in front of the witches, or whether there were more reasons for that. One of the obvious ones that both Niklaus and Kol had already noticed was that she looked like Estella. But that was the only thing, she was a completely different person to Estella and yet I felt attracted to her and she fascinated me.
"Klaus said that I would find you out here" I was torn out of my thoughts, Marcellus, Niklaus' foster son, had come and judging by his facial expression, he had no good news. "Marcel, what brings you here at this hour?" I asked for the reason he had come here. "The Treme Circle is busy preparing a ritual, they are using magic without permission, just like 3 years ago, my people are busy figuring out what exactly they are planning, but so far they have not been successful" he informed me, the Treme Circle was really a persistent witch coven, there had been several attempts to discuss and sign a peace pact, but the circle had always stood in the way. Since then, witches in the French Quarter have not been allowed to practice magic.

A rule that had turned out to be necessary. "Klaus said you have a toy now. I did not think you saw people as such," he drilled into what seemed to interest him more than possible regulations to stop the Treme witches. "I don't have any toys, Niklaus is referring to Ella, a young woman Kol had tracked down in the Netherlands because she looks amazingly similar to Estella, but she is much more than you would think at first glance," I gave him a very short summary of how Ella had gotten here. "According to Klaus, she wrapped you around her little finger" he remarked with a grin on his face, my family and Marcellus seemed to be of the opinion that only because Ella had smiled at me once, I had fallen for her. Which was not the case. Yes, she fascinated me, she had asserted herself against Niklaus, she showed no fear when it came to contradicting us, she rather showed fear when you got too close to her. By now I also knew the reason for this, she felt touch very intensely and could not blame her.

"Niklaus, has already expressed this assumption several times, but I can only deny this, I brought it mainly out of interest and the fact that the witches are looking for her, so it will only pay off to know the person nearby" I replied and denied the fact that Ella had allegedly wrapped me around her little finger. Even if I did not want to get the look, she had given me before she went back into the house out of my mind. I still could not interpret the look correctly, did she know more than she pretended? Especially because, except for 3 years, all kinds of information, records of her were missing. I did not suspect at that time that Marcel also knew something about it. Just as little as I would get close to her secret the next night...

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

The conversation with Marcel lingered in my mind for a long time. The witches were looking for Ella, but how did she know about her? According to my contacts, the witches didn't know her identity, but there was one thing they needed to know if they were looking for her. Did it have something to do with the fact that there was no data about her? I couldn't believe that she didn't know why there were only 3 years, her facial expression was easy for me to read and she knew why. I just couldn't think of a reason why she didn't say anything, was she afraid of someone? Did someone threaten her family? A friend? Someone she didn't want to hurt? At the thought that she might have had a boyfriend whom she protected with her silence, jealousy bubbled up for a few seconds. But I suppressed the feeling right away, I wasn't jealous, there was no reason to feel jealousy.
Instead of concentrating on the book I had lying on my lap in front of me, I let my gaze wander through the living room, night had already fallen and only the reading lamp broke through the darkness in a circle. Everything else was shrouded in darkness. The silence of the house sounded almost unnatural, no insects outside making noises, no crickets that usually filled the night with their calls.

Footsteps told me that Ella was coming close to me. "Something is wrong" she spoke to me as she stepped into the light of the reading lamp, her eyes searched for something in the darkness, her expression was worried, I could almost taste the tension that emanated from her. Before I could ask her what she meant by that, she looked at me. Her blue eyes seemed to glow, but that was not possible, it had to be the reflection with the reading lamp, which created the illusion that her eyes were shining.
Just as I had sat up and was about to step up to her, the house around us exploded in flames, I reacted immediately and grabbed her hand, I clasped her in my arms and brought her to safety. As we watched the house outside, at a safe distance, as it was engulfed by the flames, she broke away from my embrace. How had she known that? The flames reflected in her glasses, "I didn't know the house was going to go up in flames, I had an uneasy feeling and in the past I didn't rely on my intuition" she answered my unspoken question.
"I've already noticed that something was wrong, it was too quiet," I answered her and my thoughts were overturning, it was clear that this was meant for Ella. The fact that the flames spread so quickly, without accelerant, proved that they knew she was here. The best move was to get her out of the final line and that meant I had to take her out of New Orleans. As much as it bothered me, I couldn't do anything now and she was bound to me, I also had a responsibility towards her.

"Come on, we have to get out of here," I broke the silence that had briefly spread between us. She followed me and I held the car door open for her so that she could get in, my gaze fell on her back, her sweater had slipped up a bit and revealed scars on her skin. Deep scars alternated with superficial ones. The sight alone caused a rage to flare up, which I could only suppress with difficulty, the urge to ask her who had done this to her and then to bring the causer, a painful death, was almost overpowering. Why did I care that someone had caused her suffering? She was still a stranger, even though I wanted to get to know her better, also because of the bond that connected us. It didn't just come about, there had to be a reason and I would find out sooner or later. After we left New Orleans behind, I called my brother to let him know what had happened. "These witches will die an agonizing death," Niklaus' voice came out of the smartphone's speaker. "Niklaus, there is no evidence that it was the Treme witches," I reminded him, but it didn't help. He was already busy thinking up various methods of taking revenge on them. "So you're on your way to somewhere with your little person?" he informed himself when he had no more new ideas. "I'll get back to you as soon as possible," I replied and hung up. Ella looked at me while I concentrated on the road, "Where are you going?" she asked me, her voice sounded a bit hoarse, "To a house where you will be safe until there is more information about who is behind the attack" I answered her and looked at her for a moment. She looked at me, "Why are you helping me? You could just deliver me to the witches and make sure that Klaus doesn't burn down all of New Orleans?" she asked me the next question.
"Niklaus won't burn down New Orleans, I have a responsibility to my family but also to you, in case you forget that" I reminded her, I couldn't just leave her to her own devices, apart from her financial situation, she didn't have much opportunity.

"It's going to be hard to forget," she murmured more to herself and looked out of the window at her side. My thoughts wandered back to the scars, who had done this to her?
The creaking of the steering wheel drew my attention to the steering wheel, I loosened my grip and concentrated on keeping the anger under control. We spent the next few hours like this, silently, while she was indulging in her own thoughts, I planned the next steps. Her steady breathing told me that she had fallen asleep. I turned off at a gas station and decided to get something to eat and drink for them. Just as I got out, she did the same, she was awake, although she gave the impression that she would rather not be awake. While I was examining the selection of food in the gas station shop, Ella was to the toilet. When she came back, I was examining an energy drink, even though it wasn't clear to me why people wanted to drink something like that.
"Do you drink something like that?" she asked me as she surveyed the selection of drinks and foods I had already chosen. Sandwiches, bottles of water and coffee were in the selection, "No, but I know that most people like to drink these drinks, even if it is a mystery to me if you also have coffee," I replied. To which she looked at me with a slight smile, "Because not everyone likes coffee, I don't like coffee, only certain types of iced coffee and such energy drinks I have often drunk" she explained to me without sounding arrogant.

"What taste do you like?" I wanted to know from her while Ella examined the large selection, I had torn her out of her life, they had lost their jobs, so it was the least I could do if I made sure that she at least had enough food available. Ella looked at me, but she made no move to answer me. "Pick a few of the drinks, I'll get a warm coffee," I suggested to her and left her alone in the aisle to order an espresso from the cashier at the front. Even though I didn't need the coffee, I liked the bitter taste. I didn't suspect at that time that I was wrong with my thoughts that I had torn her out of her life.

Ella POV:

I watched Elijah order a double espresso from the cashier before moving on to the wide selection of energy drinks. This man was a big mystery to me, he had saved my life, he hadn't called me crazy when I met him in the living room because my feeling told me something was wrong. I could still feel his touch, how he had rescued me from the burning house, how he had let go of me after he could be sure that nothing could happen to me. The only thing that bothered me was that he saw me when his responsibility was that he was responsible for me, but he had no responsibility for me. I decided to take 4 doses of energy and then went to Elijah, who had everything billed. "Your double espresso," the cashier handed him, Elijah thanked him and left the shop. "Is that enough for now?" he asked me when we were back in the car, pointing to the sandwiches, bottles of water, and even chips he had bought. "Have you shopped for an entire orphanage?" the words escaped me before I could stop them and I could feel the warmth spreading through my cheeks.
This crooked grin, which seemed to have mastered all male Mikaelson, also showed up in him before he answered me, "You need food to survive". That seemed to be explanation enough, because he drove back onto the road and on to a destination I didn't know. Actually, I should be worried, but I could trust my intuition, wherever he went, it was safe. Even though it surprised me that he voluntarily left his brother alone with Freya and Kol. I had no idea at the time that he had his own reasons for this.

"I wasn't even aware of that yet," I muttered and looked out of the window, how would he survive? He needed blood, after all, but I didn't dare to ask him. That was a bit too personal and I hardly knew him. Anyway, I didn't know this version of Elijah Mikaelson and I couldn't really assess how he would react. When I thought of how I had seen him for the very first time, how I had thought I was dreaming, I had never thought that I would end up sitting next to him in a car, I had never thought.
"Do you have a favorite food? Something you like to eat?" he started an attempt to start a conversation, "Not really, I don't think there is peanut butter from Calve here" I answered him honestly, the only thing I missed was the peanut butter from Calve, unfortunately I hadn't been able to afford it in the 3 years I had lived in the Netherlands, I earned too little for that. "What doesn't exist, you can import" was his answer and I had to remember that I was talking to a vampire who could hoard a lot of money if you didn't need a lot to live.
"Why did you say that you had responsibility for me?" I brought up what was on my mind the most and although he continued to look at the street, I could feel that he hadn't expected my question. "Because my brother first had you kidnapped, which later in Germany led to someone almost kidnapping you, we wouldn't have followed you and I tore you out of your life, because of me you don't have a job anymore" he explained to me, his words triggered mixed feelings in me, he wasn't to blame that I had lost my job, he hadn't torn me out of my life, they had been the witches of the Treme Circle. But I couldn't tell him that. "The fact that I lost my job has nothing to do with Kol or you, I wasn't found to be social enough" I answered him and the disbelief about it was written all over his face, I had heard funnier reasons. That didn't shock me anymore. How could I tell him that he hadn't torn me out of my life?
"And you didn't tear me out of my life, I can hardly remember anything, but you're not the reason" I couldn't say, could I?

Chapter Text

Ella POV:

The scenery changed and soon he turned onto a country road, at the end of which stood a house, detached, surrounded by land. In front of it stood someone, a blonde young woman, probably the owner of the house. But when Elijah parked in front of the house, I could see that it was his sister Rebekah who was waiting for him. While he got out and took the food he had bought, I took the time to examine the surroundings. There was a lot of land around the house, hardly any trees in sight, if someone approached the house, the vampires would notice this very quickly. "She really looks like Estella" her voice reached my ear, what Elijah answered her, I didn't hear because he had already entered the house. "I thought you wanted to show off your feminine side when you asked me to bring clothes," she teased her brother as I approached.
Elijah shook his head with a smile on his lips as he put the groceries in the fridge, he had even stopped at a supermarket to buy bread, eggs and milk so that I had something to eat. But I hadn't asked him how he wanted to handle the blood. On the one hand, because I didn't want to interfere in his affairs, but also because I didn't really know how he would react.
"You must be Ella, I'm Rebekah, his sister" Rebekah introduced himself and looked at me, "Yes, Klaus spoke of you that you were in Paris" I answered her and she entered the house. I followed her and while she continued to tease her brother, I looked around, to my left, was the kitchen, where Rebekah was examining the food while Elijah was talking to her, about Paris, to my right was the living room and in the middle was the staircase that led to the first floor.

The living room, as far as I could see, extended to the other end of the house, while a dining area had been set up at the kitchen. "Nik is right, she wrapped you around her finger" Rebekah remarked to her brother, while I could feel his gaze on me, but I ignored the tingling sensation that spread, in the living room, on the bookshelf were several books I had read. "In what way?" Elijah answered her and footsteps approached. I didn't have to look around to know it was Elijah. "And I thought you were the smart brother," she commented playfully annoyed and dropped into the armchair next to the bookshelf while she looked at her brother and then at me. "It's hard to believe that you rammed a stake into Nik's thigh, you don't seem that strong," she commented, my appearance. "And you don't look like a vampire who has been walking the earth for over 1000 years," I answered her and examined a book that I didn't know yet because I hadn't been able to buy it. Maybe a book could distract me from my nightmares.
"Touché" was her answer and she turned to her brother, while Rebekah discussed the next steps with her brother, I put the book back and left the living room and entered the porch at the back house and with the door, the voices of the two vampires were swallowed.

My life had changed 360 degrees 3 years ago, now I was on the porch of a house that I could be almost 100% sure of was not Elijah's property, but somehow he found it safe enough. He felt responsible for me, something I was reluctant to do. Why did I have to be bound to him? I didn't feel anything special, nothing that I hadn't felt before. Well, I had never felt anyone's presence as strongly as Elijah's, but it wasn't something I would classify as extraordinary. Just as I was leaning against the railing, his sister entered the porch and stopped next to me. "Elijah doesn't just see you as his responsibility, you are important to him, even if you probably won't believe me, but he helped you, not because you look like Estella, but because you were dragged into something, through no fault of your own" she broke the silence, "You knew her?" I asked her as I turned to her. She nodded and added to her wordless acknowledgment, "I find you more sympathetic than her, probably because you're not a witch and don't manipulate my brother like her." My reaction had to be on my face, because with a sad smile, she first looked at her brother through the window, who was talking on the phone, before she turned back to me. "She tried to get him to leave his family, to go away with her and he has changed since she died, he only sacrifices himself for our family, so it amazed me when he asked me to buy clothes," she revealed to me. When is that? When I had fallen asleep in the car and for the first time ever, had not been haunted by nightmares? "You didn't know anything about it" she concluded on my silence, Rebekah seemed to see right through me, as if there were no secrets for her.

"No, I didn't know anything about it" I confirmed her statement and would have liked to thank her, but at that moment Elijah entered the porch and gave his sister the cell phone, with the hint that Marcel wanted to talk to her, she left the porch and left me alone with her brother, who looked at me. My intuition kicked in, he knew, Marcel had told him where he had found me 3 years ago. The thought alone triggered, the only clear memory I had before everything broke into puzzle pieces and nothing made sense anymore.

The pain that came from my back radiated into my body, everything hurt, even taking a breath hurt unspeakably. My vision was blurred, I could hardly see anything that didn't become a fuzzy mass as soon as I tried to see something.
Suddenly I heard screams, something or someone entered wherever I was. My vision was too bad to really see anything. Then the person leaned forward and Marcel Gerard's face appeared in front of me. "Hello, my name is Marcel" he introduced himself and loosened the shackles that tied me to a wall.

Elijah POV:

Marcel didn't have any good news to tell me, he now knew who the witches really wanted and why. He had told me the craziest thing I had ever heard. He had found a young woman with the Treme witches in the cemetery 3 years ago, Davina had told him that they were doing something in the cemetery. When he got there, he had found someone, weakened, closer to death than life and her back was covered with cuts, some so deep that they had to be stitched. At the time, he didn't know that the young woman was Ella. He had told me that she could hardly remember anything, only where she had lived before and that she thought she was going crazy. Because she seemed to know Marcel from a series. I had missed Marcel and Ella by just under a week. He had brought her to the Netherlands and helped her get new papers. Since then, she had lived on the run from the witches. I entered the veranda where Rebekah was standing together with Ella, "Marcel wants to talk to you" I gave her the cell phone and my sister left me alone with her. She looked at me and the fear reflected in her eyes showed me that she was afraid of me. "Marcel just told me something that I would categorize as unusual and maybe even absurd," I informed her and her reaction was different from what I had expected.

Instead of answering me, she turned to the porch railing and looked into the distance before saying anything. "So it's no coincidence that the house went up in flames," she stated, her voice sounding calm, serene, but her hands were shaking, her posture showed me that she wasn't as calm as she pretended to be. "And before you ask why I didn't say anything, I can't remember a lot, I don't remember weeks, I only remember how I drove home from my work, on a bus, then everything is black" she continued and I let her talk, I could hear right away that it was hard for her, to talk about it. Her voice sounded firm, but trembled and her shoulders were tense. "When Marcel found me, I seemed to be closer to death than to life, I can't remember, I don't know who is behind it" her voice broke off and her posture showed me how much strength it took her to talk about it, the memories that undoubtedly caught up with her explained her physical condition.
"Marcel mentioned that you can't be of this world, not just because of the fact that there are no records of you," I added, watching her reaction. But she didn't react as you would expect when someone told you that you thought they weren't from this planet.

"I'm not from this world either, dimension, whatever you want to call it, I knew who Kol and you were, because I watched a series in my previous life and when I hear myself say it now, it just sounds crazy," Ella replied to me and even though she had clearly reproduced the words, I could hear from her voice that she was reaching her limit. It had already amazed me that she knew exactly who we were, but since Marcel had already told me how he had found her, how Davina and he had tried to help her, that she had not trusted him, that once she was fit enough, she had backed away from him. I knew she was telling the truth, the bond that had been created between us grew stronger with each passing day, and it was almost as if I could feel her sorrow. A feeling I hadn't felt for many years. At that time, I had no idea that I would soon see the full extent of the torture of the witches with my own eyes.

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

"Marcel told me that you told him why I decided not to continue teaching him when he was a child, he asked me if it was true, you know about it, because of a series?" I asked and could not banish the disbelief from my voice, "I know myself how crazy that sounds, I wouldn't believe myself if someone told me that," she answered me and looked at me for a short second before focusing on the lawn in front of her. Ella was on the verge of breaking down under pressure, if what Marcel had told me, what she had told me, was true, then she had been on the run for over 3 years and had not slept much for years.
"The facts speak for themselves and I tend to believe you, but I can only advise you not to lie to me or conceal anything that could affect the safety of my family," I warned her, I didn't want to harm her, but the safety of my family came first. Ella did not look at me when she answered me, "I'm many things but not so stupid as to turn the most dangerous Mikaelson against me". With these words, she left me alone on the porch and entered the house, where she told my sister that she would go upstairs, take a shower, and thank her for the clothes.

When I entered the house again, Rebekah was waiting for me, who made no secret of how I had just spoken to her. "Marcel just told me that you have found your soul partner, and you treat her like that? She has already told you why she did not tell you everything directly, Marcel told me how he found her, whatever the witches did to her..." she gave me a lecture before I interrupted her. "He also told me how battered she was, I wanted to hear from her why she didn't tell me anything, I didn't tell you about Soul Bond because I don't know how the tape affects my judgment," I informed her. The Soul Bond was something completely new, something that worried me because it was connected to me in a way I had never experienced before. "The soul bond does not influence your feelings, or your judgment, it binds your souls with an invisible bond, something I have only seen 2 times so far and for which Nik has often smiled at me, because I also wished for it, what you share with her is something extraordinary" my sister corrected my perspective on the soul bond. Rebekah was right, I was too focused on the fact that she had not told me where she really came from. Now her cryptic answer about her family made sense.

"She's not Estella luckily, I know you don't want to hear that Elijah, but she wasn't the woman you thought you knew" she added, I knew that my siblings, all of whom had not liked Estella, they all had not trusted her. But I knew that she had always been honest with me. "She never lied to me" I contradicted her, I did not want to talk about Estella, she was dead, I would carry her death with me forever. She did not deserve to die the way she had died. My sister looked at me with pity in her eyes, "She did Elijah, you just don't want to hear it, but you can't accuse her of being careful, especially when she knows how dangerous it is to be associated with us," she took Ella's side. I could understand her reasons; I could still see the fear in her eyes of me. She was not only afraid, but she was also past the stage of fear, you could almost describe it as a fear of death. Was she so afraid of me, or of the memories?

I was supposed to discuss this with her but now was not the right time. I had to organize my thoughts, proceed methodologically, and decide what the next steps were. One thing was clear, the witches had found Ella in New Orleans and wanted her back.
But this was not an option, if it was even remotely true what Kol knew about Worlds Wanderers and what had not been falsely handed down, then it was far more dangerous than one would expect at first glance. Although she had hidden from me that she already knew who I was when we had met for the very first time if you could call it that.
"Promise me that you will listen to her, that you will not draw your own conclusions," she asked me before leaving me alone with my thoughts to talk to Marcel on the phone. Marcel had only told me because the witches had shot at them and, of course, because he knew that I absolutely could not accept lies.

Ella POV:

Elijah's cold gaze could not get out of my head, even now that I let the warm water patter on my head. It was logical, of course, I had withheld vital information from him, he probably felt betrayed and confirmed in his mistrust. Rebekah, on the other hand, had been understanding and had defended me against him and said something about Estella that she had not been honest with him. Did I even want to know? No, I did not want to know. The only thing I wanted but would never get was back into my life, my family, my animals, especially since I knew I was somehow attached to Elijah. I could only hope that my emotions were still mine and could not be influenced by his and that he could not perceive my feelings either. The way Kol had explained it, it reminded me of the Japanese legend about a red ribbon that connects two souls, and they were destined to meet at some point. But that could not be the reason his presence was so much stronger than others, even the presence of his siblings was not so strong.
What had Marcel told her? The way Rebekah had looked at me, with compassion, she was the first person who did not think I was self-pitying and told me to stop feeling sorry for myself.

I could still hear the voices as clearly as if they were standing next to me, the remarks, the condemnation, just because I had once said I could not take it anymore. Simply because I was at my wit's end. It had taken me a lot of strength at the time not to just give up, to end everything, and now I knew that I would soon reach that point again, and this time I did not know if I had the strength to continue. Fortunately, the ribbon was still in its initial stages, this thought came to me, like the desire for something to eat with others. I could still walk and find peace. The thought was supposed to frighten me, I should want to stay alive, fight with all my might to be able to build something new, but I was so tired. The tiles on my back didn't feel cold, when I let myself sink to the floor, I clearly felt the coolness of the tiles on my butt, my hands, but not on my back, I had little feeling there and I closed my eyes for a moment, let the warm water run over my face.

Would I be able to drown in the shower? While the water slowly got cooler, I stayed seated and let the drops hit my head and face, even when it became freezing cold and my body lost the heat, I stayed seated. It was easy, I could sit here and when my body was cold enough, I would just fall asleep and find my peace. No more pain, no more negative thoughts, no hole I fell into and had to fight my way out again. Just an end.
I did not want more, just an end without horror, without having to miss my family, my pets any longer. But I would not die because my life was already tied to that of a primordial vampire. I had to find the strength to pull myself out of the hole again, how many more times would I be able to do that before I ran out of strength?
When I opened my eyes, everything was blurred as always, my glasses were by the sink, opposite the shower. My muscles felt stiff; I did not feel the cold on my butt anymore. With a little effort I straightened up and turned off the tap, with careful steps I left the shower and wrapped the large towel around my cold body, I did not dare to look in the mirror. I would see myself sticking out a bit, since Elijah made sure I ate at least three meals, my shoulder bones didn't stick out that much, but it would be a long time before I looked at anything like I used to.

For a moment I closed my eyes again and let the memories of my former life come to mind, how my dogs greeted me after a long day at work, as my little black panther as I always called her, just sat on my chest because she wanted to cuddle now. How our orange cat meowed at me and demanded cuddles. The sadness and the longing threatened to overwhelm me, I now had to concentrate on the here and now, I had concealed vital information from Elijah, he would either hand me over to the witches or come up with a suitable solution. The uncertainty tried to take possession of me while I dried off as if on Auto Pilot and put on new clothes that Rebekah had bought me. I did not even want to think about how Elijah knew my size, even though the underwear fitted perfectly. When I put on my glasses, my reflection stared at me, my eyes slightly reddened, my skin paler than usual, that was usually the case when I was cold. Nothing out of the ordinary. I had to stop producing one horror scenario after another, I could not assess it, I didn't know what to expect. But one thing was clear, I could no longer cling to the hope that this was all just a damn real dream and that I would actually wake up in my own bed and then laugh about the dream.

When I stepped out of the bathroom back into the bedroom that had been assigned to me, Elijah was waiting for me there, apparently, he had also showered because he was wearing a white shirt, with dark pants, the jacket hanging over the railing of the bed.
I could not tell his hair if he had showered, because it was perfectly styled as always, while my hair had chosen to keep its curly state, and I probably looked like a watered poodle. "Did you want to spend the night in the shower?" he asked me and looked at me from the toe. Did my choice of clothing seem too casual to him? I had combined a black hoodie with jeans and my feet were in warm socks, although I still felt the cold in my bones, my body was slowly warming up again. "I didn't intend to," I answered him after what felt like an eternity, but maybe falling asleep forever still sounded too good to my ears. I hadn't yet completely crawled out of the hole I kept ending up in.

"The plan to stay here for a few days has changed," Elijah informed me and unfolded a piece of paper, he handed it to me and I went to the bed and sat down on the edge. Someone had written me a message, threatening that I would be found everywhere and that I would never be safe. "We will always find you; you can hide wherever you want, we will find you and bring you your rightful end" was written on the paper. In other words, they were going to kill me, something they could not do 3 years ago, they were going to do now. This day cannot end any better.
"When did you actually move to the Netherlands?" he surprised me with his question, "Why? That was October 13, 2008," I replied to him and my answer did not seem to surprise him. "Because in Mystic Falls, in an old part of the cemetery, a grave was noted where an Ella van der Velden died on October 13, 1864, she was born just like you on September 18, that can't be a coincidence," he revealed to me, his words gave me goosebumps. How was that possible?

Chapter Text

Ella POV:

I found it hard to believe, someone had lived over one hundred years ago, had been born on September 18, 1847, and died on October 13, 1864. The day I moved to the Netherlands with my family, minus my father. "That explains why you're still alive if there has already been someone," Elijah added and I could only look at him uncomprehendingly, I had no idea what he meant. He explained to me that Freya had expressed the suspicion that there might have been someone with my name, my date of birth, so that I was not classified as something unnatural by nature, which explained that I was still alive because the bond between us had only recently been activated. "Because there has been someone with my name before, who was born on the same day as me, but in 1864, am I still alive?" I summed up and couldn't believe it. Kol had said I was a world walker, but according to Freya's theory, which was completely undermined. That's why he decided to go to Mystic Falls and do more research on the spot. Elijah left me alone with my thoughts, he still had a few things to discuss with Rebekah and I didn't want to disturb him. So, he was going to Mystic Falls tomorrow and I was supposed to go with him, being exposed to his proximity for even longer would get to me quite a bit. I had already been able to hide how much the situation was pushing me to my limits, how was I supposed to endure days in a car? Were they days? Where exactly were Mystic Falls and where were we? I really had to stop thinking about everything, it just made me worry unnecessarily.

But before I could think about it anymore, or play through horror scenarios, Rebekah's voice reached my ear from below. "You're up to something?" her words sounded louder than probably intended, "You seriously want to go to Mystic Falls alone with her, even though the Treme witches know she's here?" her words penetrated through the wooden floor. Were they standing under the bedroom where I was sitting? "She's connected to me, and should I leave her alone?" Elijah probed for his part, it sounded as if I was sitting in the room with the two of them, instead of one floor between us. "You don't trust her" Rebekah stated and although I didn't trust Elijah either, I still felt a sting, "It has nothing to do with trust, she is bound to me like I am to her, I suspected from the beginning that she was hiding something from me, I don't trust Niklaus that he couldn't try to kill her" he revealed the reason why he wanted me to go with him. Rebekah and Elijah continued to discuss while I had to come to terms with the idea of building a new life here, even if I had no idea what that would look like. Someone was born here over one hundred years ago, on the same day as me, only I was born in 1991 and not in 1847, how was that possible? So many things I didn't have an answer to and probably wouldn't find one. And then there was the bond that connected Elijah and me, was it, like the Japanese legend, a red wire that connected people who were predestined to find each other?

Footsteps on the stairs made me sit up and take notice, it was Elijah who had a cup with him, "I have a cup of chamomile tea for you" he informed me as he entered the room and put the cup on the bedside table next to me. "How are you?" he wanted to know from me as he sat down next to me on the bed, I could feel his presence too clearly. I didn't answer him, what could I say? That I no longer trusted my own head and that I felt like I was slowly but surely going crazy? No matter how many times I assured myself that what I was experiencing was real, doubts crept in repeatedly. That this couldn't be real, that I wasn't tied to a vampire, that this was all a damn realistic daydream and that I had suicidal thoughts? That I no longer had the strength to fight my way out of the hole into which I was pushed repeatedly? The fact that someone was after me, trying to kill me, was still the cherry on top of everything.
"Oke" I managed to do, but his incredulous look was answering enough for me, he didn't believe a word I said. I wouldn't do it myself if I were him. "Your hands are almost white, your complexion is almost as white as the wall behind you, you only have to look at you and you can see that you are not doing well," he listed to me why he did not believe me. "I always look like this when I'm cold," I tried to defend myself, but my voice betrayed how much the last few hours had taken their toll on me. I had not only admitted to him where I came from, but also to myself, I could no longer tell myself that I was just living a dream, a damn realistic dream, that this was a story, that someone was writing down my thoughts, feelings, and I was just dreaming. But that was just dreaming.

"You're not cold, you're hypothermic," he contradicted me, took the cup with the tea, and put my hands around the warm cup. "Why do you care? I'm just another responsibility," I insinuated to him, while the warmth slowly penetrated my fingers and slowly warmed them. "You are not another responsibility, being bound to me means danger, even if the Treme Circle is mainly after you to wipe out my family, but your life is not another responsibility" he replied to me, but it sounded as if he was just listing why I didn't seem to be a responsibility if it was.
"I thought that being attached to a primordial vampire was a Sunday Walk," I murmured into the cup before taking a sip of the tea and thus couldn't see his reaction.

Elijah POV:

Ella tried to distract from the fact that she had been in the shower for far too long and her body had cooled down, she wasn't in the best shape physically and mentally. Nevertheless, she tried to hide it and seemed to want to reproach for herself that she was only an additional responsibility and not a person whose life had been completely turned upside down.
The initial anger and disappointment that Marcel hadn't considered it important to tell me where Ella really came from had disappeared and given way to reality, she had had to trust Marcel when she had been badly injured, she had had to put her life in his hands without knowing if she would survive. Then there was the threat I had found before her, and it had made the situation more complicated than it should have been. The Treme Circle was not to be underestimated, and they needed Ella for their plans, I had to make sure she was safe and since I couldn't trust Niklaus, she would accompany me. "A lot of things I would call a Sunday Walk, but not what you have experienced so far," I replied to her remark as she took a sip of her tea, trying to hide how she felt. But I could read her as if she were wearing her feelings on her face. Her posture, she avoided eye contact, and her choice of clothes told me that she didn't feel comfortable with her skin and that I now knew where she came from made it harder for her.

She didn't answer me, instead she held the cup with both hands while they slowly regained color. On the one hand, I was supposed to give her the space to process the latest developments, but I had the impression that if I left her alone now, she could do something to herself, I couldn't say 100% where this impression came from, but the strong feeling did not diminish. Was it my experience or was there more behind the impression that she was not doing well at all?
"Do you like to read?" I asked her, maybe I could help her to get her mind off things, "Why do you want to know that?" she wanted to know from me, while she put the cup with the tea on the bedside table next to her.
"I would like to know more about the woman who rammed a stake into my brother's leg, even though she knew how dangerous he was," I answered her and earned a skeptical look, at least she looked at me again. She was calm, level-headed, and restrained. I couldn't say for sure whether she did this consciously, I didn't know her well enough for that. I would like to get to know her better, but that was only possible if she let me." That didn't seem like a knee-jerk reaction to me" I remarked and she looked at me, her look full of skepticism, "He didn't leave me alone, got on my nerves all the time and called me incessantly, your little person, someone like him only understands violence, something I would use as a very last resort" she answered me and thus revealed to me, their views. She had knowledge of people, she knew what made my brother tick and yet she hadn't reprimanded him sooner.

"Come on, I'll make you another tea and maybe you'd like to tell me what you'd like to have for dinner," I suggested and took the cup of tea out of her hand and then led her downstairs to the kitchen. In the kitchen, I put on another cup of tea and gave her several menus from different delivery services. "Why don't you address the witches' threat? They clearly know where I am and seem to be very convinced that they have enough means to finish what they have started," Ella asked instead of looking at the menus. "Because there's nothing to discuss," I countered, whereupon she looked at me as if I had suddenly grown horns. "It is no coincidence that Kol and you were in the Netherlands that he had me kidnapped"....

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

Ella didn't continue her sentence, instead she let her gaze wander from me to the table. Where the message of the witches lay. "How am I supposed to understand that?" I asked her, whereupon she looked at me. "So, it's supposed to be a coincidence that you both have been in the Netherlands? That he had me kidnapped because I have similarities with someone who I don't know how long has been dead? That the witches send a threat and that it doesn't bother you at all?" she informed me, while her face closed to a mask so as not to show any emotions.
"Because the threats keep coming up, but so far they haven't been as specific as they are now," I replied, the threats had never been so specific, always vague, but now they began to become more specific and aimed at my siblings or me, but now also Ella. "Since when?" Ella wanted to know from me, as if she suspected something, her gaze had changed, she seemed determined and for a moment I had the impression that her melancholy mood, which she had tried to hide upstairs, had made room for determination. "It started 3 years ago, shortly after we settled in New Orleans" I released the time when the threats had started and all of a sudden it fell from my eyes like scales, the threats were related to the time when Ella had been with the witches, when Marcel had taken her to the Netherlands, to Europe.

"This can't be a coincidence," I murmured more to myself as the puzzle pieces fell into place and the irregularities of the last few years, it had to do with her, with the woman who stood opposite me. The witches had triggered something that was still circulating now. It all had to do with when the witches had torn her from her world and how long she had spent in captivity with the witches, the problem was to determine the exact time that she had no memory of the time with the witches, according to her own statement. So how could we figure out what the trigger was?
I would have to ask Niklaus if he had noticed anything before I came to New Orleans, according to Marcel she had already been away with the witches for 3 weeks and he had accompanied her to the Netherlands on the very day I arrived so that she could go into hiding.
After ordering food and Ella had another cup of tea and finally had a little more color on her face, I decided to discuss with her what we would do next. The grave in Mystic Falls could be a trap, or it could be a clue as to how she came to be here.

"Can you remember how long you were with the witches?" I broached the subject; I needed all the information we could get. "No, it's still only fragments," she answered me, she didn't look at me, her gaze fixed on the cup in her hands. Her voice didn't reveal how she felt, I could imagine how she felt. Marcel had told me that she had drifted between unconsciousness and consciousness for almost 2 weeks. "What do you remember?" I informed myself and sat down opposite her, she looked at me. Her blue eyes had a hint of green around her pupil, her iris had a few almost golden dots. "I was sitting on the bus home, then everything is black and the only thing I remember clearly is Marcel who suddenly appears in front of me, after that everything is blurry, fragments and only when I was in the Netherlands are the memories clearer, Marcel had given me papers and instructions" Ella told me, her hands clamped tightly around the cup, Probably to prevent them from starting to tremble.
"That means that you are missing several weeks" I stated and felt sorry for the young woman who sat opposite me and tried not to show how much it affected her, especially I had the suspicion that she suffered from nightmares and slept badly. The dark circles under her eyes spoke for themselves.
When the food was delivered later, we both ate in silence and even though I wanted to know more about her, it was more important to give her time. After all, she had a lot to process, and it wouldn't help if I pressed her.
Later in the evening she left me alone, that later in the evening I would see what the witches had done, I had no idea.

Ella POV:
The conversation with Elijah had created new fragments and it became increasingly difficult not to give in and just fell into the black hole and never climbed out of it again. Blurred contours, fragments of conversations, words had found their way to the surface and made it difficult for me to focus.
How did others manage to just keep going without falling into the black hole every time?
Against all reason, I tried to get some sleep, but as soon as I closed my eyes, I found myself back in a nightmare from which there was no escape.

"Come back," the voice echoed behind me, menacing and deadly. The stones in front of me rose, the walls on both sides pushed me closer inexorably. The pain ate through my body like lava, no matter how far I walked, my lungs burned, my heartbeat pounded in my ears and again a wall opened up in front of me, I was trapped again, pain flared up and the ground came towards me at a speed that I should have hit, but I stayed a few centimeters behind.
"You won't escape us that easily" and pain flooded my body. The scenery changed, I was back in a building, my hands were tied, it smelled metallic and the pain that was now centered on my back was getting stronger and stronger. "We have to bring her to the brink of death; she has to go over"...

I felt like I was falling and landed on the hard ground of facts, I had seemingly turned in the little sleep I had gotten and was lying on the floor. Elijah's presence was noticeable when I felt a hand on my back. The T-shirt had apparently slipped up and exposed my scarred back. "Have you hurt yourself?" he asked me as I moved myself into a sitting position, "No" I managed with difficulty, the nightmare had been much clearer this time, the pain too clear, as if it had torn my back open again. Elijah sat down next to me, he left enough space so that I didn't feel pressured. "How long have you had nightmares?" Elijah asked me, he didn't look at me, he didn't touch me because he knew what his touch triggered.
"All the time" I pressed the words over my lips, if I even tried to continue talking, I would irrevocably burst into tears, and I didn't want to be weak to sink into self-pity. Instead of saying anything, Elijah was silent and I felt a blanket being put around my shoulders, "You don't have to go through this alone" he mumbled more than he raised his voice when I looked at him, my vision blurred visibly by the tears that collected, he seemed worried about me? Silently he sat next to me, gave me the space I needed, but didn't leave me alone and didn't drill any further, he was just there. And his presence was the only thing that kept me from falling back into the black hole I'd fallen into so many times and struggled to get out.

"I'm not broken, I do not need fixing" I replied to him, I knew I would hurt him with these words, but I didn't have it in me anymore to keep him at a distance. I averted my gaze and stared at my hands, he had put a blanket around my shoulders, he had noticed that I still had nightmares, the same dream over and over again. I didn't want to be vulnerable, to give someone else something in my hands that could be used against me.
Elijah was not impressed by my words, "I am aware that after what you have had to go through, you don't trust someone like me, I want to help you" he replied to my remark and stood up, he held out his right hand to help me up. Could I accept his help? I had done it for 3 years, with missing memories, witches haunting me in my dreams and now I couldn't even shake off a nightmare.
Elijah knelt down in front of me and held out his hand to me, "I don't bite" he promised me, to which I couldn't resist replying that I wouldn't taste either, which elicited a smile from him, the typical Mikaelson smile that all male Mikaelson seemed to master.

"Believe me, even a 90-year-old still has tasty blood, but I don't intend to bite you" he answered me and pulled me up, on my feet. He let go of me and told me to follow him, what was he up to? When I arrived in the living room, he directed me to the couch and put a blanket on my legs, then he disappeared into the kitchen and came back with ice cream, vanilla ice cream. "Why did you move to the Netherlands back then?" Elijah asked me as he handed me a spoon and the ice cream. "My parents divorced, and my mother wanted to go back to her homeland," I replied to him, whereupon he expressed his condolences to me. But what he didn't have to do, my father was an asshole, and I told him that. Elijah sat down next to me, "I'm sorry," he muttered more next to me and conjured up a spoon as if by magic and then took some of the ice. A vampire eating ice cream, I sat next to Elijah on the couch, his presence was still strong, but it was pleasant now at the moment, as if his presence kept the nightmares in check. "It doesn't have to" I answered him and handed him the container with the ice cream, so he didn't have to reach around me to take some of the ice cream.
"I want to help you if you let me" he revealed the reason why he had taken me downstairs and when he added, "I will make the witches who have harmed you pay for it, they will receive their punishment, I give you my word", I could only stare at him, had he really just said that?

Chapter Text

Ella POV:

The sun's rays shining through the living room window woke me up, I had fallen asleep on the couch, Elijah was nowhere to be seen, my glasses were lying on the table in front of me. I could only vaguely remember the previous night, had he really promised me to punish the witches who had torn me out of my life for it? Or had I dreamed that? It had felt familiar, as if we had known each other for years, but that wasn't true. Was that this tape? Why had he behaved so humanely? I knew that he was not human and yet he had behaved very humanely. And then the touch on my back, I had no feeling on my back for over 3 years and yet I had felt his touch, something that scared me.
Why could I feel his touch? I didn't feel cold, heat, or my own hands when I tested if feeling had returned.
When I had put on my glasses and could see my surroundings clearly again, there was a piece of paper on the table. Elijah got breakfast, probably for himself, because he, I didn't know how long a vampire could go without blood. Ice was certainly not a good substitute.

After I had been upstairs, changed and went back downstairs, I met said vampire in the kitchen, he had fetched rolls, croissants and coffee, "Good morning" he greeted me and seemed relaxed, but I couldn't read other people well and especially not him. "Tomorrow" I returned his greeting, how could I ask him if he had touched my back last night, because I had the feeling that I had just dreamed that because I felt his touches so intensely.
"Are the nerve endings in your back badly damaged?" Elijah asked me as he handed me a plate, when I didn't answer him, he looked at me. "I don't have any feeling in my back anymore, but I could still feel the touch last night..." I couldn't finish the sentence, why could I feel his touch? Only his touch made my skin go up in flames, the warmth, the tingling, it was only like that with him. From others I only felt a little tingling, but that subsided after a few minutes, but his touch was much more intense.
Elijah stepped closer, "May I touch your back?" he asked me for permission, "Why?" I wanted to know from him, whereupon he looked at me, "Because I want to know if it was a coincidence or because the nerve ends are regenerating". I could feel his hand on my spine, as if there were no scars there, as if I wasn't wearing a top and a shirt over it, the warmth, the tingling was present, but not as strong as on my arm, his presence was still strong, but now his closeness no longer caused the feeling that I would like to run away.

He let his hand wander over my back, "It's not the nerve endings that regenerate, the scar tissue is too thick" he rejected his assumption and took a step back. So there was another reason why I could feel his touch. His facial expression could be described as worried or thoughtful, I couldn't interpret it, he analyzed the information and maybe he had an explanation. Because I couldn't think of anything, except that it made me feel insecure that I could feel his touch on my back, but not even the cold of tiles penetrated through.
"How does Marcel's touch feel to you?" he suddenly wanted to know from me, "Warm and the warmth lasts maybe a minute, but then the feeling is gone" I answered him honestly, there was no point in lying or keeping quiet about it. I wanted to know why he of all people triggered a different reaction in me, why I had been able to feel his touch on my back last night and why the hell I had been able to sleep near him without being plagued by nightmares again. That was not normal.
"I'm the first one whose presence and touch can be felt so strongly? No childhood love or partner before you woke up here?" he informed me, I had to suppress the impulse to laugh. "No, no partner, no childhood sweetheart, is that your way of asking if I had a boyfriend?" I answered him, omitting that I had hardly had any friends, let alone the one friend. But that didn't bother me, I knew since I was 25 years old that I fell on the asexual spectrum. As I had said many times, the person who would make me enter into a relationship had yet to be born. Or had I had to land in another world for that? Because only his touch, as fleeting as it could be, triggered the tingling, the warmth.

Elijah looked at me, he radiated wisdom and somehow security, as if I could be with him, myself, that he would not judge or laugh at me. But just because the irrational part of me wanted it didn't have to correspond to reality.
"No, but normally I would expect you to have left more than just your family and a job" he replied to me, while I looked at him he started to prepare breakfast, mainly for me, but he also put a plate in front of him. "And my two dogs and two cats, even though many don't see pets as important," I added, suppressing the memories of my pets, I didn't want to burst into tears in front of him.
Elijah took note of my answer and changed the subject, placing the rolls and croissants in a basket and instructing me to sit down.
"Do vampires need food at all?" I asked him, whereupon he gave me the typical Mikaelson grin, "No, but I prefer to eat something, you have more pleasant conversations then" was his explanation and after he had drunk some of his coffee, the conversation was directed to the discovery of the grave. Why did this appear now?

Elijah POV:

Ella ate some of her bun, I would have liked to see her eat more than just a bun, especially after I had seen part of her back last night and had just been able to feel the scarred skin through her clothes.
The fact that she was not paralyzed bordered on a miracle. The witches had whipped her again and again, otherwise I couldn't explain the deep scars, but the deep scars were concentrated on the middle of her back, she had scars all over her back, the witches had not only whipped her, but also worked on her with a knife, but for what purpose?
I suppressed the anger, the desire to let those responsible bleed for it, I had already let myself be carried away to give her my word that those responsible would pay for it. I would make my promise come true, she had had to live through weeks with the witches, that she could hardly remember anything was better. I still remembered her look last night, she had been on the verge of giving up.
Ella had tried to hide from me that she had almost given up, but I had seen it. I couldn't let her continue to be a target of the witches. The fear I'd seen in her eyes, whatever haunted her night after night, I couldn't help her if she didn't want to.

When she fell asleep next to me last night, I had watched her for a long time, her resemblance to Estella didn't just stop at her appearance, she was a completely different personality, withdrawn, calm and above all she didn't seem to want any help from others.
When Estella had entered a room, she had won over those present, everyone had hung on her lips, addicted to the next word that came from her lips.
I suppressed the memories of her, there were now more important things than continuing to live in the past, as Niklaus had advised me several times before, I should let the past rest. It was easier said than done, but I now had to find out why the witches wanted Ella back, why she wore the scars on her back, why she could only feel my touch, but no one else.
"What are you going to do now?" she interrupted the silence that had spread, "You mean what we are up to" I corrected her, I had saved her from the henchmen in Germany, but I would not continue to decide over her head what we would do next.
The surprised expression on her face showed me that she had expected something different, after all, I had given her no choice when I had brought her to New Orleans. But I didn't know where she really came from and what the witches had done to her. "Then you want to take a closer look at the grave?"

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

"Did you think I'd decide over your head?" I asked her as I put away breakfast, "I didn't really have a say in my entry into America, or where we are now," she reminded me before I could answer her, she added. "Understandably". Did she rationalize her situation?
She looked at me, her expression didn't reveal anything about the emotions she was hiding, I had caught a glimpse of the woman behind the mask yesterday and it had awakened my protective instinct in her. Did I want to protect her because she looked like Estella?
"How can I understand that?" I asked anyway, but before she could give me an answer, I was called. It was Niklaus, what could he want now of all times? "Niklaus, how did I deserve your call?" I greeted my brother and turned away from Ella and let my gaze glide over the porch at the front of the house. "Why didn't you tell me what connection your little person has to the witches? I had to learn this from a witch and even if I suspect that she is lying, I want to know from you if this little bitch told the truth!" Niklaus asked me, he was angry and paranoid. "And what connection is Ella supposed to have to the witches?" I asked my brother, who, as it sounded, was running back and forth and throwing things against the wall. "You know that very well! She collaborates with the enemy, and you protect her too!" Niklaus accused me and his paranoia had taken possession of his logical thinking.

"How do you come to the conclusion that she is collaborating with the enemy?" I asked him while I turned to Ella, she had turned pale. Even though her face didn't betray any emotion, I listened to her heartbeat, she was afraid. Understandably. "I found out from Jane-Anne after I motivated her to tell me the truth about her circle," he snorted at me over his mobile phone, he was angry, so angry that logic and caution were now at the back of his mind. "And by motivated you actually mean torture" I concluded from his words and my thoughts ran wild, that I had taken Ella away from New Orleans was not only due to the attack of the witches. Niklaus' impulsive behavior had also weighed in my decision, a right decision, as it turned out now.
While my brother continued to rage in my ear, I played through several scenarios, I could tell Niklaus what Marcel had told me, but then I would direct his anger towards him and Rebekah wouldn't forgive me for that, should he come to harm, I could go back to New Orleans with Ella and leave her to him, which would end in her death, or I could go with Ella to Mystic Falls and examine the grave, and then face my brother with new information and hopefully convince him of her innocence.

"Niklaus, I would like to continue listening to your wild accusations and have your plans for the indiscretion I have committed in your eyes carried out, but unfortunately I still have something planned, I will get back to you in due course, please don't try to burn down the French Quarter until then" I ended the conversation and Ella looked at me, "Is it wise to continue provoking him?" she asked me, justifiably.
"It's best that you stay close to him and I would say that a trip to Mystic Falls seems to be the right way," I indirectly suggested to her to be able to examine the grave and thus give my brother time to calm down. Even though I knew from experience that he would increase in his paranoia, Freya and Camille were able to exert their influence on him, especially because Freya was an exceptionally talented witch.
"And then you can visit the grave directly to find out more about it" she stated and left me alone, with a murmured "I'll pack up for a moment" she disappeared upstairs into the room, I heard her footsteps, how she walked back and forth in the room and how she went to the bathroom. What was Ella like when she wasn't on her guard, when she didn't choose every word carefully and watch others, I had watched her many times, how she watched others, how she had watched the interactions with my siblings, now I knew partly why she had watched us.

Ella POV:

The trip to Mystic Falls was for the most part without incident, except for the calls and text messages from Klaus, who threatened his brother, promised me unspeakable suffering, and if he didn't call back immediately, he would find his brother and make his life hell. "How did you live your life before you ended up here?" Elijah snapped me out of my thoughts, he looked out into the street, and I was tempted to answer sarcastically, but that wasn't really fair. He hadn't chosen to have a rare connection with me any more than I had. "Not much done, mainly work and reading something on the weekend or watching a series" I summed up my life, financially I couldn't do much even before I landed here, but honestly? I didn't want that either. Others my age went out, got drunk and enjoyed life, for me getting drunk was nothing, I didn't like the taste of alcohol, and I hadn't really had any friends. It hadn't bothered me, now it sounded pathetic.
"No friends?" he probed and looked at me for a second before his gaze turned back to the street. "No friends, hardly anyone wants to be friends with someone whose head hangs more in the clouds than anywhere else, that's always been the case, and it doesn't bother me," I summed up the truth about my previous life.

"Then you're a dreamer?" Elijah asked me with an amused undertone in his voice, "War" I corrected him, I used to write a lot of stories, had a lot of ideas, and also daydreamed, but I had given up on that. "You must have had plans, dreams, or has it always been your dream to work in customer service?" he continued the Q&A session as he turned off the highway and drove to a motel in the parking lot.
"Of course! My absolute dream job, to be yelled at by adults for things I can't do anything about," I answered him and forced myself to put on a smile. Elijah parked in a parking lot and looked at me. "Someday I hope to see a smile on your face that reaches your eyes," with the rather cryptic words, he turned away and got out. Why did he want to see a smile on me that reached my eyes? What were his reasons for helping me and taking action against his family, against Klaus?
He barely knew me just because we were connected by something I couldn't see, or was there some other reason? Something he didn't tell me.

I waited by the car for Elijah, who came back with a room key, he was still wearing his suit and looked out of place at this motel. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he wanted to know from me when he had almost arrived at the car. "You look like a businessman who has been abandoned here," I expressed my thought, and he smiled, he smiled at my observation. "And I thought you chose your words wisely so as not to upset anyone," Elijah commented calmly, my observation. I looked at him, was he serious? "I'm trying to find the right words, my mother tongue is not English and some of the words I don't even know that you use," I reminded him and he took the bag with the clothes Rebekah had gotten for me to go to the room he had booked for us.
The room was like I knew from many series, two beds, a TV on the left side, behind the second bed was the door to the bathroom. It was kept simple, and I could guess why he decided to do it. So, he would generate less attention, and attention was the last thing we needed now.
Elijah put the bags on the bed closest to the door and closed the door behind me and put the lock on. When I turned to him, I caught him scrutinizing me closely, as if he wanted to find out something and had not yet received an answer.
"That's not necessary, it can just be that I need a little longer to answer" I didn't want to put the responsibility on him, but he shook his head and looked at me with an indescribable look.

What exactly was going through his head? He reminded me so much of the Elijah I knew from the Vampire Diaries, he was focused on his family, not just Klaus, and he had decided that whatever the witches wanted from me, they wouldn't get.
"I'm going to get something to eat, a wish?" Elijah asked me, only now did I realize that we had been on the road almost all day." Are you allergic to something? Something you absolutely don't like?" the vampire added, whereupon I had to suppress a slight grin when I listed everything I absolutely didn't like, it would take us days. "You would need days for that, a few fries or a sandwich are more than enough" I answered his question.
"Lock the door behind me," he instructed me as he opened the door and stepped out, "And I'll bring you something more nutritious than fries or a sandwich," he added, before he closed the door and I, as he had said, locked the door.
Why did he care about me? What was the reason he really made the effort to fall out with his brother? I might never get the answers to that. But I will get the answer soon...

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

Her gaze couldn't get out of my mind, her blue eyes with the green and gold spots around her pupil followed me as I moved further away from the motel to get blood and eat her something sensible. Why did I have the urge to protect her? Because she had been able to feel my touch on her back? Although it had deep scar tissue, especially in the middle of her spine?
So many questions and no answers, I couldn't see through her or predict what she would do next based on her behavior.
My phone vibrated and I could see my brother calling me again, "Did she buy it from you?" he wanted to know when I answered the call. "I don't know, she's hard to assess, but I don't think she's secretly working with the witches," I replied, while Niklaus accused me of letting her wrap me around my finger, just like Katerina and Estella had done before her. "Niklaus, I have my reasons for assuming that she doesn't work with the witches," I interrupted his tirade firmly and omitted how badly her back was scarred and how she clearly suffered from nightmares were clear indications. "Your reasons don't happen to have a name, a woman who looks like your beloved Estella and you project your feelings for your dead fiancée onto her?" he continued to tease while I scanned the surroundings. My feelings for Estella were not the reason I helped Ella, or the connection to me. The tape, none of that was the reason. "Niklaus, I'm not projecting anything onto Ella," I contradicted my younger brother and he told me what he had found out so far, it wasn't much. The Treme Circle was actively working to find out where Ella was.

"Just keep telling yourself that" with these words Niklaus ended the phone call, I stowed away my phone and decided to get her something to eat and go back. When the witches were actively looking for her, I couldn't leave her alone for too long and the chance that she might have been a very good actress and had tricked me. But I couldn't imagine that she had tricked me, the fear in her eyes when I had seen her back partially exposed had been real. She didn't lie about what she could remember, her reaction to my touch, how her heart beat faster, the goosebumps, you couldn't play that.
With food in my luggage, I entered the motel room less than 10 minutes later and when I entered the room, I found Ella in the room, contrary to expectations. She looked at me as I closed the door and put the food on the bed that stood right by the door, her gaze could not be interpreted, not even when she noticed the blood bag I had brought for myself. "I hope you like wraps, I brought some without vegetables," with these words I handed her, the bag with the wraps in it, one with pulled chicken and cheese and another with beef and a cheese sauce, Ella looked at me, "Where from? ...“ She started to ask, but I interrupted her, "I may be old, but I'm not blind, you don't seem to like salad, so I chose two wraps that don't contain any vegetables or salad," I told her and sat down on the bed opposite her.
"The fact that I can't get salad down my throat has to do with an old elementary school teacher, she was so nice to force everyone in her class to eat salad, since then I can't see any salad anymore" Ella told me voluntarily about herself, while she didn't unpack or touch the wraps yet.

But we both knew that this small talk was only to avoid addressing what really needed to be discussed. Something Niklaus had interrupted when he had called me this morning. "Why did you help me in Cologne? You could have just left me to the witches," Ella asked the question she had wanted to ask me for a long time. Before I answered her, I asked her a question, "Why didn't you tell me where you come from from the beginning?".
Ella looked at me, "Because until recently I hoped that it was all just a dream, that it was not reality, as soon as I said it, it became the harsh reality and not a desire to wake up again in my old life" was her simple answer, before she interrupted the gaze contact and crossed her legs, so that she sat cross-legged on the bed.
Although she tried to hide what my question had triggered in her, I could see it in her. "At first I suspected that you were working with the witches and were just pretending to have no idea how it came about that you could only keep 3 years of records," I started to answer, interrupting me. "But the scars speak for themselves" was her statement and her voice was the only thing that revealed how difficult it was for her to talk about it. "Not only the scars, I watched you how you treated my siblings, except Niklaus, you treated us all with respect and not once, did you try to harm my family" I corrected her assumption and handed her one of the wraps, "Please eat something" I asked and left her alone for a few minutes to drink the blood from the blood bag, she already had enough to process and since I didn't have a cup at hand, the bath had to suffice as an alternative.

I spent the rest of the evening gathering more information about the next few days, Mystic Falls had once again organized various festivals and it would make it easier for us to get information and visit the grave unseen and then disappear again. The Salvatore brothers were not very keen to see a family member in Mystic Falls at all. At that time, I had no idea that we would have a completely different problem tomorrow.
Ella had fallen asleep, her calm breathing told me that she wasn't plagued by nightmares yet, but that was the case last night, especially after she fell asleep next to me. I had learned something about her life, so was it really the case that my judgment was affected? I let my gaze wander to her, I could see the differences between her and Estella very clearly. She was not Estella, even if I had assumed that at the very first moment.

The engagement of the son of the governor of New Orleans was good news, which resulted in the fact that it had already been a state of emergency in the French Quarter for 2 days. There was partying, drinking and among the inhabitants there was always a willing victim who had to give blood, which Niklaus in particular made use of.
I had sat down on a bench and watched the crowd in front of me, who were celebrating exuberantly and took no notice of me. Except for one woman, she had long blond hair that fell down her back in curls, her green eyes were framed by long eyelashes, a round face and a smile that could light up a room played around her lips. I had noticed her before, but I hadn't dared to look at her clearly, something she did to me. "Mister Mikaelson" the young woman greeted me and sat down next to me on the bench, "Estella Delacour" she introduced herself and I returned her greeting.
This was the beginning of a 2-year relationship that ended abruptly when Estella died. After her death, I had sworn to myself never to open my heart to anyone again, love hurt too much to have to relive that pain.

Ella POV:

The pain that had centered itself on the spine became stronger, I broke out in a cold sweat, I had tried to ignore the uneasy feeling, the slight pulling that had slowly but surely developed into a burning and then a stinging was just about bearable, but the pain increased in intensity. My stomach turned, my mouth felt too dry, I carefully folded back the blanket and got up, within a few steps, I was in the bathroom, just in time because my stomach contents were pushing upwards and the toilet was the only place I could see without glasses. The warm feeling spread from my stomach to my throat and I just managed to lift the lid before the contents emptied into the toilet bowl. My muscles no longer obeyed me, I couldn't stop the tremors, my back felt like it was on fire. With my last bit of strength, I managed to lean against the cold tile wall, hoping that the cold, the burning would take away the intensity and calm my stomach.
I could only hope that Elijah hadn't noticed, but this hope was shattered when said appeared with a glass of water in my field of vision, I could feel the heat spreading on my cheeks, my body felt cold, powerless, but my face glowed.
Why did I worry about what he thought of me? My vision blurred from the tears gathering in my eyes, the pain got worse the closer we got to Mystic Falls, the stronger the uneasy feeling had become, but because I didn't know what exactly the reason was, I hadn't said anything.

Elijah sank down on the floor next to me, he leaned against the bathtub while I tried to get my muscles under control, my body still felt like wax, the tremors didn't get any less and the pain in my back seemed to get worse with every breath.
"How long has your back been hurting?" he informed himself and worry resonated in his voice, I didn't trust my voice enough to answer him. My throat felt scratchy, the stomach acid had left a bitter aftertaste. Elijah handed me the glass, and now my right arm obeyed me enough to accept the glass.
"I can hear it in your heartbeat that you're not feeling well" he added and even though he was out of focus for me at the moment and I couldn't see his facial expressions well, my ears worked well enough to hear the worry in his voice. He was worried about me?
"You don't have to be a vampire for that, you just have to have eyes in your head," I contradicted him, I didn't even want to let the thought that he could worry about me. Until now, I had always fallen flat on my face when I thought that someone was really interested in me. "Why can't you believe that there could be someone who cares about your well-being?" he asked me and although I could only see him dimly, he shone behind the mask I had built up over the years. I broke eye contact and focused on my legs, which I could clearly see in front of me.

How could I explain to him that no one ever really wanted to get to know me, but only the version I pretended to be? That if I made the mistake of telling my family that everything was just getting too much, that I shouldn't whine and not sink into self-pity? That I often had tears in my eyes because of all the anger and that was what I hated the most? Because I had always been labeled as whiny and I just felt shitty right now and would like nothing more than someone to be there to tell me that everything would be fine?
I wouldn't ever speak any of my thoughts, I knew myself how absolutely whiny and pathetic it sounded and he had seen and experienced much more than I ever would.
"Why should you care? I'm not part of your family, the only thing that matters to you is whether I would ultimately help the witches destroy your family or not," I managed with difficulty and I hated how rough my voice sounded. "Then answer me a question, why didn't you give the witches what they wanted?" he asked me a question, to which I had no answer...

Chapter Text

Ella POV:

How could I explain to him that I could only remember shreds and that the witches believed that I didn't understand them? "I don't know, maybe because I don't like to help anyone who has torn me out of my life" I answered him and bit my tongue not to add "And because when I watched the series I had a favorite character and luckily for me, that's you". Elijah seemed to be satisfied with this answer for the time being, at least for the time being.
After what felt like an eternity, my stomach and my back had calmed down so much that I wouldn't hang over the toilet every second again. Elijah stayed close in case I fell over my feet, if there was one thing I hated, it was that I felt so weak and my body took too long to recover. Something I hated, I didn't want to feel weak, or at the mercy of someone else, even if the chance that Elijah would do something to me was small, so it was there. He was unpredictable to me and even if he were a man of his word, he would kill me if I posed a threat to his family, I was aware of that, I was sometimes naïve, but not in this case.
"When did you realize where you were?" Elijah wanted to know from me when I sat down on the bed and picked up the glass of water.

"She's coming to" I heard a male voice say, my body aching as if someone had run me over with a truck. My back burned as if it was on fire as I tried to move. "Don't move, I'll help you" spoke the same voice and helped me to move into a sitting position, my glasses were held out to me and when I could finally see clearly, my heart almost stopped in shock. Marcel Gerard sat in front of me, he looked at me worriedly and behind him was Davina Claire. "Where am I?" I asked myself more than the people in my room, I was in some bedroom, it was a simple interior, almost as if no one normally lived here. "New Orleans, in the French Quarter," Davina replied and answered my question. I must have gone crazy; I couldn't be here. I had just been sitting on the bus home, I could remember how the bus had left Maastricht and headed towards Berg en Terblijt, a route I could dream of because I took the bus 5 days a week. I had either gone crazy or dreamed damn realistically, because I couldn't be in New Orleans, Marcel Gerad couldn't sit in front of me. That could not be possible. Marcel explained to me that Davina had noticed an unnaturally high concentration of magic at a remote, disused cemetery and after he had gone there to find out what was going on. He had found me, almost unconscious, closer to death than to life and my back that had been exposed. There was no trace of the witches, he had taken me with him, poured some of his blood, but it didn't work as it should, the healing process was slower than with other people and Davina had already expressed the suspicion that I was not a normal person. Now I knew for sure that I was crazy, or I had landed in my own personal fanfiction, how much did I like to read something like that before, but experience it myself? I would never have wanted that.

Elijah was silent, he had listened to my story, had silently acknowledged Marcel's part in it and I could almost feel him absorbing the information and drawing his conclusions. Whether these would be positive or negative for me, I did not dare to guess. "Marcel didn't tell me that vampire blood doesn't work on you as it normally should" was the only thing he said. He got up and took his cell phone, he typed something and then sat on the second bed. Elijah seemed to be processing the information, sorting the facts for himself. Davina's remark that I wasn't a normal person reverberated in my head, Freya had already confirmed this because I was somehow connected to Elijah.
Was it so extraordinary that vampire blood did not accelerate my healing, as was usually the case with humans, that I would soon get answers to this, I had no idea.

Elijah POV:

Ella had told me without emotion what she remembered, which matched what Marcel had told me, but he had left out that the healing process was much slower for her than usual when you infused vampire blood into someone. Actually, her back should have healed immediately, left no scars and above all she should have kept the feeling in her back. So why was her back scared and did she have no feeling in her back except when I touched her?
The rest of the night passed without incident, Ella had finally fallen asleep, and I had put her glasses next to her on the bedside table, she tried to master everything on her own.
Who was Ella? Why did she always try to be invisible? Who had made her not want to take a place in this world? Questions that I had, but that I didn't ask her, she wasn't ready to trust me yet and I could only guess what had happened to her, that she hardly allowed the touch of others or me. I already knew that she couldn't stand my touches, whether there was a reason she avoided the touches of others. Had they perhaps been physically attacked in the past? That was my only conclusion.

The next morning, she tried to hide from me that her back was still hurting, I could tell by her posture, she spared her back. Even now that we were on our way to the old cemetery and walking over the mossy ground, I had to suppress the impulse so as not to stabilize her when she almost lost her balance. Abruptly she stopped, in front of us there was only forest, a few stones and the mossy ground was strewn with pine needles. I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, just as I was about to turn to her, I heard footsteps approaching. "You shouldn't have come here, vampire," someone spat out the last word. Several people stepped out from between the trees and if I wasn't mistaken, they were witches, they all had tattoos on their skin, symbols that I had never seen before.
Her gaze went from me to Ella, "World wanderer and the red wire of fate, an interesting combination" she spoke to her and then looked back at me, her dark eyes seemed to be looking for a weak point. Her gaze wandered back to Ella, "So much pain, so many doubts and yet so stubborn, why? He is death, he shouldn't live in the first place" she said, Ella and as she emphasized above all that she carried pain and doubt within her, what exactly did she want from her?

Ella didn't answer her, I concentrated on her heartbeat for a few seconds, she was afraid, something about the people who had stepped out from between the trees scared her.
"I can feel how they tried to unite your essence with the ancestors, why didn't you agree? You would find peace and no longer have to suffer and endure the attacks that bring you closer to death than to life," she continued and took several steps in our direction. To which Ella stiffened and just looked at her, not a word passed her lips. "I can clearly feel the connection between you, you were destined to meet him and yet it's wrong!" she continued her monologue while Ella just looked at her, said nothing and I guessed if she would try to hit me if I grabbed her and ran away here to get her out of the danger zone.
"You should go, we will not let you go to the grave where your predecessor is buried, the pull of the other side is stronger, for someone like you, if you were to go to the grave now, you are death and even if we do not approve of your company, it is clear to see that fate has plans for you," she finished her monologue and she began to step between the trees again. Why are you warning us?" I demanded that the leader betray us, why did they warn us when they detested my present nature? She looked at me, "Because we are not murderers, we are protectors of the natural order, do you actually realize what a privilege it is to be part of the connection that the red wire of fate meant? Of course not," she insinuated to me, while I was not familiar with the red wire of fate, I had heard about it, it had Japanese origin to my knowledge, a legend that told of the fact that every person was connected to someone with an invisible red wire and that they would meet in life. I couldn't really see what a privilege that was. But I had not heard of protectors of natural order before. "What exactly does that mean?" Ella wanted to know from her, whereupon the woman's gaze was directed at her, the harshness that I had encountered in her gaze gave way to her and was replaced by compassion. The woman had compassion for Ella while she had looked at me with a harshness. Something I had already experienced many times. "Your essence is connected to him, the day you touched the ground of this world, the wire of fate manifested itself in both of you" she explained to her and while her companions retreated between the trees, she stepped closer, it was only two steps, but it was enough to make Ella retreat.

She gave Ella a smile, "Trust your feelings, it will help you make the right decisions" she advised her and the next moment she was gone, a blink later and no one was to be seen. The attack she had had to endure only last night brought her closer to death. Before I could ask her, however, there was clapping behind us and the cynical words on Niklaus hit their target. Ella tried to hide the fact that his words hit her. "A great play, you play the helpless woman very well, so my brother can't help but help you, he suffers from helper syndrome and pressing a little on the tear gland has always helped".
"Niklaus, I forbid you to make such accusations, they are absolutely baseless," I defended her. She didn't even try to arouse my pity, even last night she had said several times that I could walk quietly, but I hadn't left her alone.

"Unfounded? Have you not heard of the protectors of natural order? She's closer to death than life, it's only good that I decided to follow you because I knew you were going to fall for her, her little I'm so helpless game" he emphasized the words extra, which irritated me that Niklaus didn't trust me and Ella certainly wouldn't believe. Before I could reply, Ella spoke, "Do you really think I planned everything? That I planned to be torn out of my life by the witches? For your brother to save me? Do you seriously think I planned this? How absolutely paranoid you have to be!" she defended herself, leaving me and a speechless Niklaus for a few seconds.
At that time, I had no idea that the attacks were not the only danger.

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

"I really thought you wouldn't let yourself be wrapped up, but it was good that I followed you," Niklaus remarked as I followed Ella and he walked next to me. "I didn't let myself be wrapped, my suspicions have been confirmed and I forbid myself any insults or threats to her" I clarified and found Ella by the car, she had put on a mask of indifference, "She wrapped you around her finger, exactly what I expected" Niklaus remarked as he approached Ella and stopped by her. "If I find out that you are only using my brother, you will regret it" he clarified before turning to me, "I hope for you that you are right" with these words he said goodbye, got into his car and left me alone with Ella. He gave in too quickly, I had never seen him like that before, that he just gave up his suspicions. Or did he want to lull Ella and me into a sense of security so that he could prove his truth?
Ella looked after my brother until his car had disappeared from her field of vision, only then did she turn to me. "How many of these attacks like last night have you already had?" I informed her, "Last night counted 3" the answer came so quickly that I looked at her, she didn't return my gaze, instead she focused something in front of her, "When the woman said that the attacks would bring me closer to death, I counted how many times these attacks have happened so far, I can only remember two, the very first one I probably had when Marcel found me, one a year ago and then the one from last night," Ella added without emotion as she clenched her right hand as if she had the emotions under control when she felt pain. "Are there any signs that such an attack is imminent?" I informed herself and stopped with her, so that she couldn't help but look at me, "No, just a pull and stab in the back, but I have that almost every day" Ella answered me and didn't look at me directly, she fixed something else in my face, as if she was afraid of losing control.

"Why are you defending me from Klaus?" her voice tore me out of my observations, her question sounded almost like an accusation, as if I dared to defend her when she didn't need a defense. "That sounds like a reproach," I remarked, whereupon she looked at me for a moment before turning away from me. I suppressed the impulse to hold her back, I let her take the steps she seemed to need. Ella turned back to me, "Why do you care what happens to me at all? You don't know me, I'm of no use to anyone," she asked me to tell her why I was helping her. Marcellus' words came to my mind as she looked at me invitingly. "She needs clarity, she needs to know why someone is doing something for her, she expects everyone to do something for someone else to get something in return, I don't know why, but she doesn't believe anyone is doing anything for her, just out of kindness."
I didn't answer her directly, instead I took two steps in her direction, "When Kol and I were traveling in Europe to locate the weapon that the Treme Circle allegedly had in its hands against my family, we never thought that it could be a human when we followed you to Germany. we just wanted to make sure that no one found out about our presence," I revealed to her, she looked at me with suspicion in her eyes. "But then you were attacked and I decided to help you," I concluded and she looked at me, "That's still not an answer why you decided to help me and when you saw the scars on my back, looked like you wanted to kill someone for it" she contradicted me, I felt the slight discomfort when you felt caught. I couldn't explain it to myself 100%, maybe it was the connection, the fact that her life was tied to, mine.

"As soon as I know who is responsible, that's a possibility, those who did this to you won't get away with it" I promised her, whereupon Ella looked at me with a mixture of confusion and was it gratitude(?). At the time, I had no idea that she didn't know what it felt like to have someone standing behind you without expecting anything in return.
"Besides, it is a privilege to be connected to you, you have heard the protectors of order, a privilege that I do not appreciate" I reminded her and opened the passenger door of the car, "We should be on our way" I declared the topic over for the time being and after she had gotten in, I took a seat on the driver's side. There was still much to discuss, but this was not the appropriate place, nor was she in the condition to have longer conversations. I had noticed the slight trembling of her legs as she leaned against the car as if she had hardly any strength left to stand. Last night's attack had affected her more than she showed. And it bothered me that I didn't know who in the Treme Circle had done this to her. The person would wish they had never been born.
Ella was silent for some time while we left Mystic Falls behind us and I clearly noticed how the tension fell away from her, her posture relaxed, she was no longer sitting so tense, next to me.
Freya had assured me that this bond that connected me to her did not affect feelings, but then why did I feel responsible for her? Was it because she had been torn from her life and had no one? Did I feel responsible for them because I had done the same? I had torn her out of her life, which she had built up over the last 3 years. How lonely did she not have to feel? I had my family and even if we argued, we were always there for each other in the end.

"Have you ever heard of these protectors of order?" Ella wanted to know from me as we moved further and further away from Mystic Falls, "I've never heard of them, I'd have to ask Kol if he's ever heard of them, he's befriended witches in the past and can tell us more about them" I answered her, Kol had even tried to make a dagger for Niklaus so that he couldn't turn it off again and again and lock it in a coffin. The dagger hadn't turned out to be a success, but he had met Davina and Niklaus had come to terms with not locking him in a coffin again, also because he had changed thanks to Davina, and I had realized my mistake and asked him for forgiveness at the time not to stop Niklaus from stabbing him again and again. But the reason I would protect her was not only because she was the weapon, but also because she had no one, and I couldn't help it, so as not to worry about her.
Niklaus had already informed me several times about how annoying my compassion for people was, I couldn't just let them down.

Ella POV:

Elijah and Marcel had been discussing for several hours whether it was certain that I was here or not. Elijah hadn't wanted to wake me up when he'd parked in front of Marcel's current residence, but I'd beaten him to it. Just the thought that he would touch me sent one cold shiver after another down my spine. I knew he wasn't going to take advantage of the situation, but not being conscious when someone was taking someone somewhere caused discomfort. Marcel dropped down on the couch next to me, he had given up trying to explain his point of view to Elijah. "Why didn't you say a word? Don't you have an opinion on this?" he wanted to know from me, while I tried not to fall asleep, the last few nights had robbed me of more energy, "Right now, I don't have an opinion and honestly? No one can beat you two," I muttered to myself more than I gave him an answer. Marcel touched my left leg for a second, his touch was fleeting and it didn't trigger anywhere near the same warmth or tingling that Elijah's touch triggered. It was just warm and evaporated after a second. "Not even Elijah can beat your stubbornness if you're fit and don't look like you're going to fall over any second," he remarked and looked at me worriedly.
"You've only known me for 3 weeks before you helped me go into hiding in the Netherlands" I remarked, whereupon he smiled at me, he left me alone and discussed it with Elijah, I didn't even try to hear what the two were discussing.

After a few minutes, one of the two left Marcel's apartment, it was Marcel, because Elijah sat down next to me, careful not to get too close to me. "How do you feel?" he wanted to know from me while he looked at me, I could feel his gaze while I looked at him, "Tired" was my monosyllabic answer, that wasn't a lie either, I was tired, but I felt slain. "You look like you're going to faint at any moment," he remarked with worry in his voice? "And you look like you've come out of a suit commercial," I replied and let myself fall against the back of the sofa. Tiredness was in my bones, but no matter how tired I felt, sleeping was out of the question.
Even if I didn't like to admit it, even to myself, I was afraid of another attack that would keep me awake or nightmares. Especially because I was back in New Orleans.
Elijah looked at me, his expression was unfathomable and he reminded me strongly of the mysterious vampire who had appeared in the Vampire Diaries, calculating, always one step ahead and yet he made sure that I didn't die, he had stopped more often than necessary on the way and bought something to eat and drink when I had already forgotten something to eat. "Why is it so hard for you to accept that someone wants to help you without ulterior motives?" he asked me while watching my reaction. "No one helps someone without expecting something in return" was my answer. I had experienced it too often that I had helped someone without ulterior motives, didn't expect anything in return and when I needed help, I was expected to pay for it financially or in some other way.

"And what do I expect then, in your opinion?" Elijah informed me and his dark eyes narrowed for a short moment before he looked at me with a serene expression, "I'm not a clairvoyant, I have no idea" I answered him, I didn't know why he had decided to help me, especially since I had woken up in the hotel room in Cologne, I didn't know what to think anymore. Because one thing was clear, Elijah Mikaelson was a big enigma dressed in an expensive suit, with centuries of experience, knowledge and family who would do anything for each other. Probably also to kill each other, but in the end they stuck together, like pitch and brimstone. He was watching me, he hadn't even touched on where I really came from, as if it wasn't important to him or even remotely worth mentioning. "You know my family and Marcellus from a series, don't you have any clues as to why I decided to save your life?" Elijah brought up what might have been bothering him for a long time.

"No, even Klaus is an open book compared to you and apart from that, I last saw the series years ago and don't know it by heart and I'm still not sure if I'm not just dreaming it all" I wanted to add, but left it. Unfortunately, it felt too real to dream, even though I liked to cling to the thought that I was just dreaming. Because the reality was frightening.
But I knew that I wasn't dreaming, no one dreamed again and again for 3 years that you were in another world.
"And yet you knew why Marcellus and I didn't have a good relationship" he remarked in passing, "coincidence" I muttered and straightened up, vampires could get into people's heads, maybe I just had to give Elijah access to my memories so he could convince himself that I was telling the truth.
"Why don't you just look at my memories? Then you'll know if I'm really telling the truth," I offered him and my offer seemed to surprise him, while I saw the possible consequences of my offer in my mind's eye.

Chapter Text

Ella POV:
Elijah looked at me, "That's definitely a possibility, but not in your current state" he rejected my suggestion, "For something like this to work at all, you have to be in good physical shape, you look like you're going to fall asleep at any moment" he added and seemed really worried about me, even if I couldn't imagine it.
But I also couldn't imagine meeting real witches, let alone being used for something.
Elijah left me alone and I thought back to the encounter with the so-called protectors of natural order, why did I have the feeling that there was much more to the words than what they had said? Why was it a privilege for Elijah to be connected to someone like me? She had called it a thread of fate. A thread of fate had bound me to Elijah, and that was why I could feel his presence so clearly? Did that explain why his touch felt so different?

"You're stubborn," Elijah snapped me out of my mind as he reappeared with a glass of water and a sandwich. "That's only noticeable now?" I answered him, which earned me a slight smile, "Marcellus has already warned me, he called you a stubborn, now I understand why" he remarked and put the sandwich and the water on the couch table in front of me. I was not as stubborn as Marcel called me. Even though Elijah kept his distance, he clearly did not leave me alone, did he suspect that I did not want to fall asleep because the nightmares were waiting for me in deep sleep? Or did he just want to make sure I wouldn't have another seizure? "It's not exactly easy to accept that you're in another world where you know some people from a series, even if I have a flourishing imagination and used to dream myself into other worlds as a child, it's another thing to really be here," I tried to get the feeling of the surreal, that still wouldn't let me go. In the past, I had often dreamed of myself in the world of the dragon Lung, helping him to save his dragon friends, or defeating Capricorn together with Meggie. "Which worlds would they be?" he asked with honest interest, whereupon I summarized for him what the book Dragon Rider was about, how the dragon Lung, together with his goblin friend Sulfur fell and an orphan, tried to find a place so that his dragon friends and family were safe from humans, and how Meggie meets Dust finger, a character from a book, that her father had read and I had loved the books as a child.
It was funny to talk to a vampire who had literally lived history about fantasy books that had been written for children. But somehow also pleasant, because it wasn't about the bond that bound us together, or what the protectors of the natural order had said.

Elijah POV:

Ella had fallen asleep, I had learned a little more about her, which books she used to like to read. I looked at her face, the dark circles under her eyes testified to little sleep, not just for a few days, it had been years.
Actually, I was supposed to do a few things, but I couldn't tear myself away from her, I stayed sitting next to her. Why was it so important to me that it was safe? It wasn't just the bond that bound us together, but the fact that, although she knew exactly what my family and I had done over the centuries, she didn't seem to have given the Treme Circles anything they could use against my family and me. She couldn't remember a lot of things, was that self-protection or did the witches have something to do with it? The hints of the protectors of the natural order did not let me go, what was the reason why she was here? The witches had found a weapon against us, but was it really the young woman next to me?
"You like her," Marcellus remarked at that moment, who had touched her knee before he had gone to get errands, she hadn't reacted. While she reacted differently to my touch, was it because my touch triggered a strong reaction in her? Why did it bother me that he could touch her without her swerving or getting out of reach as soon as you tried to touch her?
He handed me a glass of bourbon as he sat down opposite me and looked at me, the frightened boy had long since disappeared. He had grown up and built something for himself. "What makes you make this claim?" I informed myself, while Marcellus looked from me to Ella and back again.
"You looked at me earlier when I was talking to her and happened to touch her knee, as if you wanted to rip my heart out, even if you deny it, she already means more to you than you want to admit," he analyzed accurately. "I know what touching triggers in her, she has already rammed a wooden stake into Niklaus's leg because he kept pushing her, I'm just trying to give her the space she needs" I tried unsuccessfully to rationalize my obvious feelings for the young woman. Yes, I wanted to protect her, I wanted to take away the obvious painful memories from her so that she no longer had to carry the pain with her, but I attributed that to the tape. I felt responsible for her; she had lost the life she had built for herself. Because of me.

"You should make sure to find a balance, she certainly needs her space, but sometimes she just needs someone to take her in his arms, who is there and doesn't let her down" with these words Marcellus left me alone with her while he withdrew to talk to my sister on the phone. Niklaus was still not very happy with the relationship between the two and did not tolerate the two meetings in the compound.
I looked at Ella, she seemed to be sleeping soundly, just like the night I had seen part of her scared back for the first time. How I had brought some normality into the situation with some vanilla ice cream. I remembered how she had slept next to me, after some time her head was on my shoulder. Her breathing had been calm and it seemed as if she had really been able to sleep for the first time.
Marcellus' advice to find a balance, did he know more than I did?
I thought back to the encounter with the protectors of the natural order, how she had addressed Ella and asked her why she had not chosen peace, did that mean that she had been on the verge of death? That the witches had already driven her so far?

I spent the rest of the night trying to find out more about the protectors of natural order. I wouldn't find peace to get some sleep, and even if I did it out of habit, when I was really tired, my presence seemed to have a calming effect on Ella, or else she was so exhausted that even nightmares wouldn't wake her up.
When the first rays of sunlight shone through the large window and slowly but surely illuminated the room, I had hardly found any information. There were various synonyms for the protectors of the natural order, but none of them got me anywhere. Even on occult sites, there have been too many contradictory debates about the protectors.
Ella seemed to be still asleep when I turned to her for a moment, her hair falling into her face and light curls forming the longer her hair got. I suppressed the impulse to brush the curls from her forehead. I knew that the wire that connected us didn't simulate feelings, but I had the feeling that I couldn't leave her to her fate, there was a reason why we were connected by a thread of fate and I would show her that she could trust me. I would earn their trust. I'd felt helpless as she'd sat against the wall in the bathroom, pale like the wall, with pain that was almost unbearable, and I hadn't been able to do anything about it.
With all the knowledge I had acquired over the years, none of it could help her. The scars on her back were partly deep, especially on her spine, were the scars thicker, what had the witches intended to do with this?
Were the protectors of the natural order really what they claim to be? I found it suspicious that no evidence of her was found. Not in old documents, not online, nowhere was there an entry about her.
That was impossible! It was not possible that no one had ever had contact with them and that it had not been noted somewhere. "Did you sleep at all?" Marcellus tore me out of my thoughts, the seat next to me was empty, the sound of the water told me that Ella was awake and in the shower. I hadn't even noticed that she had gotten up, I had been so deep in thought.
"I don't need an answer, these protectors of the natural order have upset you quite a bit," Marcellus added and sat down opposite me. "It doesn't make sense, there are no records of them and I've never heard of them, it's as if they don't exist" I gave space and words to the doubts, I had decided to return to New Orleans, especially to protect Ella from further attacks, I hadn't failed to notice how much the proximity to Mystic Falls had influenced her.
Marcellu's apartment had been a logical step, especially because Niklaus wouldn't expect me to turn to him to protect her.
"These protectors have claimed that if you go any further, she is closer to death than to life, I don't know what happened, but she is unnaturally quiet by her standards," he pointed out and before I could answer him, I heard the footsteps that belonged to her. Ella wore black, both a sweater and the pants were black. Even though Rebekah had brought her clothes that were colored, she seemed to prefer black.
"This is due to the fact that I am not in a country where I can find my way without the help of others, where I know exactly where I can go, where I had resources, no matter how limited they were," she clarified and even though she appeared confident, her voice did not tremble, it seemed to me that I was As if she was more confident than she felt. "That's not what I meant," he tried to appease, but she didn't believe him, it was written all over her face. "You just said to yourself that I was unnaturally quiet by my standards, that I'm more introverted anyway, and that I hate being the center of attention, how do you know I'm so quiet?" she asked him to explain to her.
Before the situation could escalate, I suggested that we have breakfast first and Marcellus took this as an opportunity to put the distance between himself and Ella, as if she could be dangerous to him. Maybe that was the case, still waters were deep, and Ella was the best example that you shouldn't underestimate people who seemed calm. Ella examined my notes, I had spent hours trying to find out about the Protectors, only to have a page of notes without finding out much more. "There are no clues to the protectors" she stated while examining my notes, "No entries, nothing as if they don't exist" I answered her and stood up. "Or they are very good at hiding so that no one finds out about their existence," she pointed out.

She was right, if they hid, only appeared when there was no other way, then it was logical that there were no records, but even then. There were always records, as rare as some events were, someone had written them down. Maybe I had to approach the search for clues differently?
"The only question that really remains is what the witches wanted from you, because as far as I can tell, you are an ordinary person" Marcellus remarked and looked at her apologetically, Ella didn't seem to hold the remark against him, because she agreed with him that she was actually just an ordinary person and nothing extraordinary, even if the connection to me, already contradicted this fact. I had no idea at the time that we would soon find out the reason. Her next request also astonished not only Marcellus, but also me.
"Where exactly did you find me back then, Marcel?" she wanted to know and her question caused Marcel to drop his glass of strong alcohol from his hand, an unusual reaction for him...

Chapter Text

Elijah POV:

Marcellus stared at her in shock, "You don't want to go back there, do you? In the middle of the lion's den, the cemetery is in the middle of the territory of the Treme Circle," he asked, although he already knew the answer. "I need to know why the witches tore me out of my life, I've been hiding for 3 years, I can't run away all my life and hope never to be found, I need the answers" was her answer and it was obvious that she wouldn't accept a no. "It's superfluous to mention that you can't run away any further," I remarked casually, and Ella's look told me everything she thought. It was written on her face that she knew very well that she could not go into hiding, because her life was tied to mine, and so she had another target on her back, in addition to the witches, certainly had enough enemies to use against me. "And if the visit triggers even more nightmares? What then?" he pointed out, whereupon Ella looked at him before answering, "Do you really think the nightmares are keeping me from finding out more? Either you help me, or I'll find the cemetery on my own, I know what I can endure," Ella answered him, it almost sounded as if she wanted to say more, but one thing was certain, she would go alone. Something I couldn't let happen.
Although she sounded confident, her body spoke a different language, she was still weakened by the pain attack, even though she had found some rest last night, she was not yet fit enough to go to a cemetery on her own.

Marcellus looked at me, "You have absolutely nothing to add?" he asked me to contradict her. "I think that we should both follow her assessment, and she will not walk around alone in this cemetery, because you will come with me" I answered him and looked at Ella, she looked at me. "But first you should have breakfast," I added and got up, the search for answers had to wait. Even if the suspicion she expressed that the protectors of natural order could not exist seemed to me to be a possibility." You are already aware that I am very well able to decide for myself when I want to eat something?" Ella reminded me. What a night without nightmares could make a difference.
"If I hadn't made sure that you ate something regularly, you would have forgotten about it," I reminded her, I hadn't made sure that she ate regularly for a reason.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think that you've both been married for years," Marcellus remarked with a grin on his face, which Ella rewarded with a look that I couldn't interpret. She left me and Marcellus alone, instead of going to the kitchen, she entered the bathroom, and the running faucet revealed that she wanted to be alone for a moment. "You can't support her, she's putting herself in danger, she won't be able to take it," he tried to convince me. "I think that she can better judge for herself what she can endure and what she can't" I answered him and added, "Since I know her, she has nightmares, she has no memory of the time with the witches, if the visit helps her, I won't stand in her way".

Ella POV:

Marcel was still not thrilled with the fact that he was supposed to lead me back to the place where he had found me back then, but I needed answers. Last night I hadn't been plagued by nightmares, but I had the suspicion that this had to do with exhaustion.
Marcel led Elijah and me deeper into the cemetery, dilapidated graves, collapsed walls and the unnatural silence characterized this cemetery. There were no dead souls here, nothing was alive here, even Elijah's presence was less clearly felt here, as if we had entered another dimension that no longer tolerated living beings. Marcel led us across the cemetery to an almost church-like building, the church tower with bell was missing, it almost looked like a church that had been shrunk. But why had the witches chosen this place because this place was no longer visited? What would Marcel have been doing here, 3 years ago? His reason that he had been released here by Davina sounded implausible, but I hadn't really paid attention to it at the time. It had been a shock to find myself here, not to know what had happened. Had I believed him too quickly?
"I found you in their back then," Marcel pointed to the entrance of the building, he stopped and made no move to go a step further. "You don't have to prove anything to anyone" he tried to prevent my decision at the last minute, I had a very strong feeling that I would find answers there, I had to visit the place where the witches had shed my blood and I didn't know why. Even though Kol had expressed suspicions, the connection I had with his brother, all of that had sounded too simple, far too simple an explanation.

So much had happened in such a short time that I had only now been able to classify my feeling that something was wrong. The night without nightmares had also helped, but the attack was still in my bones. I left Marcel and Elijah behind me, with firm steps I went to the entrance of the building, musty air hit me, dust, stale air and a slight copper smell rose to my nose, I felt the tingling in my neck, which told me that Elijah was getting closer. He stopped next to me, I didn't have to look in his direction to feel the tension that emanated from him, was the slight copper smell of blood?
"Marcellus is right, you don't have to go any further" he broke the silence, his voice echoing in the room in front of us. "I know," I replied and entered the room that I had only seen in pieces in my nightmares.
The room was not very large; an arch separated the front area and thus formed two chambers. The feeling that nothing living here grew stronger, Elijah's presence was wrong, my presence was wrong. Still, I couldn't just turn around and leave, I needed answers, especially why the witches had given me the scars, why I was here. Why I couldn't remember the time. The feeling that Marcel hadn't told me the truth grew stronger with every step I took further into the room.

What he had told me, the feeling that it was not true, was there from the beginning. Only now did I realize that he had believed me far too quickly, where I came from, what I knew and what the vampire next to me had, believed me too, but why? Above all, it didn't fit the image I had of Elijah, I would have expected more distrust from him. At that time, I had no idea what role the connection played.
As I stepped through the arch, I found chains on the left wall, brown spots on the floor, and memories that had been suppressed fought their way to the surface of my consciousness.

The chains held me captive, my vision was blurred, my glasses were somewhere next to me, I could see them blurred. Someone was standing in front of me, I could only make out black shoes, but I recognized the voice when the person began to speak. "That's your plan? To torture someone for so long that you have enough blood to make a dagger?" I heard Marcel ask.
"You wanted a gun to finish off the Mikaelsons! We found what we need, and now you suddenly have concerns? We told you that the weapon you need needs a very important ingredient, this ingredient, is behind you, it has the blood type we need" a female voice answered, the pain in my back was getting stronger, what had they done to me? What were the voices talking about?
"Where did you find them? What exactly do you want with her?" the witch he was talking to asked her, I closed my eyes and tried to slow down my breathing, to give the impression that I was asleep or unconscious.
"Our ancestors helped us to find her, she is not of our world, our universe, in our world, there is no blood that we need, we only need 2 more days, then we have everything we need to get rid of the Mikaelsons forever" she answered him and another figure came closer, his voice sent cold shivers down my spine. Vincent was part of the Treme circle that kept me here. "What exactly do you want with her?" I didn't hear the answer anymore, everything around me went black again as the pain threatened to overwhelm me.

The puzzle pieces fell into place, Marcel as he believed me, after I had told him why Elijah had changed compared to him. He had known from the beginning where I came from, and he had worked with the witches, which also explained why I had the feeling from the beginning that something was wrong. He was the reason I was here, and he had taken away my memories of it. Marcel Gerard was the reason that I had been torn from my life.
Elijah examined the brown stains that were just in front of the wall with the chains, I couldn't believe it, in the 3 years that I had made myself invisible, had never gone anywhere for fear that the witches would find me, the pain, the nightmares, all because of Marcel.
Because of him, I had no more life, I would never see my family again. That's why he had wanted to dissuade me from this, that's why he didn't want me to come here.
He had tried to stop me from finding out the truth. Elijah straightened up and let his gaze wander further through the room, the room in which I had spent what felt like an eternity, between unconsciousness and waking state.
The disappointment, the powerlessness and the anger mixed into a whirlwind of emotions, I couldn't believe it, the pieces of the puzzle fell together, and it was just like in the series, Marcel was not who he pretended to be. I had fallen for it.

With the feeling of betrayal, memories were mixed, I could literally hear my family accusing me of being stupid, naïve, and simply worth nothing. How could I have been so stupid? To believe for even a second that someone was sincere, that Marcel had wanted to help me, without ulterior motives, I expected nothing less from Elijah. I was really naïve and stupid, too often I forgot that just because I wouldn't do something, others did. That also explained why he had believed me, he had already known where I came from. I felt Elijah's gaze on me, I couldn't bring myself to look at him, the fear that he would think I was stupid took over. Why did I care what he thought of me?
The memories came of piecemeal, images that didn't make sense, but somehow made sense. It was clear that Marcel was the trigger for me to be here.
But why? Why was I here?