Not the sounds, not the grief, not the fear that he's feeling.
She's been agonizing through it all, wondering how he'd be fairing, how all of them would be fairing. They've learned well by now that death is nothing if not the most merciful of their options, and if surviving wasn't so ingrained in her she would see that maybe their not being a way out of this for everyone else isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Elena, from the moment she was apprehended, knew she was going to die. There wasn't any way around it. Once the ceremony has been concluded, in either world, the doppelganger has to die. It's called a sacrifice for a reason, and she's nothing if not too willing to be what is sacrificed so as long as everyone else is spared.
There isn't any option of sparing them.
Not when the people involved are his sons. Not when it's someone as twisted as Lucien who has so many agendas she can't keep them straight. It's more than just restoring his full power. It's more than just gaining back his immortality. He wants his army. He wants his witches. He wants to break them just to prove he can.
The tears well up in her eyes again once he holds her face, and she feels the warmth in his hands, the trembling in them as he holds them. Her grip on his own face tightens, as if a reminder he needn't be so cautious. She isn't scared of him, and while he may not trust himself at the moment, she does.
"I know you won't," she says, her voice thick with the tears that won't fall. Her face finally crumples because she sees it. The pieces. What's left of him. The once lively man filled with energy and restlessness is now in pieces and it hurts. "I know you won't leave me. I trust you."
She doesn't look away from him, as painful as it is, her palm sliding further up his cheek until it's resting at his neck. Her fingertips are directly against his pulse line, the reminder he's still alive, and as long as they're alive it can't be hopeless. It can't be, and she brings him over to her, her forehead resting against the side of his face.
The emotions tangled up in his chest are the same ones that are tangled up in hers, tightening it until she doesn't think she can breathe. It shouldn't have ended like this, it shouldn't have been like this at all, and she doesn't know how to change it.
She doesn't know how to go back.
"I'm not leaving you, either."
Elena is literally incapable of doing so.
There's no way to know where everyone else is. If they're alive or if they aren't. If their brothers -- she doesn't allow herself to finish that thought or she'll finish breaking. There's no way of knowing anymore, but he is before her and she knows that as long as he's breathing, in whatever condition he finds himself, Elena will not leave him.
You've only got a few hours until the full moon.
Her heart stops.
Her heart actually stops for several beats when he says it. It stops right in her chest before it all but stumbles out of her, as if it's dropped onto the floor, and the rest of what is said between Ethan and Lucien is drowned out by the palpable quickening of her heartbeat once it's rammed back into her, full throttle.
Elena stumbles when Ethan races towards the bars.
The shock hasn't worn off, not by a longshot, and she doesn't try getting back up. At least, not at first. She backs up against the wall instead as it slowly dawns on her why she was brought here. The full moon. That means Ethan -- Ethan is going to turn into a werewolf while they're both in the cell.
She feels sick to her stomach along with the horror that rams into her all at once. The panic she's been fighting off so successfully bubbles up to the surface helplessly, and she should've known she wouldn't be allowed to see any of them if it wasn't for a price.
That's the lesson everyone learns in this godforsaken universe, isn't it?
Elena shakes her head, her eyes burning, her chest flaming with it. "N-no."
Her eyes drop to the ground as she tries wrapping her head around it, wrapping her head around the thought of anyone sick enough to do something like this, and to their own son, no less. But he doesn't think of them as sons, does he?
They're projects.
Disposable ones, at that.
The evidence of it only fuels her anger and hatred further.
"I hope you rot in hell, you sick bastard," she practically spats out, unable to hold her tongue in spite of what she knows they will not be changing, for all their protests and all their fighting against each and every challenge that's been posed on them, as if they're lab rats trapped in a maze.
Her hands curl over the bars, gripping them tightly as her eyes flash with hatred. It is all-consuming. Not even the thought of Klaus could bring forth such a visceral reaction anymore.
"You can't do this. You need me alive, at least until it's all over. You don't know how much blood you require for the ceremony. You don't know how it works because it's never been done before. You wouldn't risk it," she says, forcing the panic to stay out of her voice in csae it's not true, but everything about what was written in the books was vague.
A doppelganger had never existed before in this universe.
The blood of the doppelganger must be drained.
There's no word on how much of her blood he needs.
This has to be another test.
It has to be unless he's found a loophole he isn't being forthcoming about and she needs to believe there isn't any because the thought of her -- the thought Ethan being forced to rip her to shreds is not something she can stomach.
no subject
Not the sounds, not the grief, not the fear that he's feeling.
She's been agonizing through it all, wondering how he'd be fairing, how all of them would be fairing. They've learned well by now that death is nothing if not the most merciful of their options, and if surviving wasn't so ingrained in her she would see that maybe their not being a way out of this for everyone else isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Elena, from the moment she was apprehended, knew she was going to die. There wasn't any way around it. Once the ceremony has been concluded, in either world, the doppelganger has to die. It's called a sacrifice for a reason, and she's nothing if not too willing to be what is sacrificed so as long as everyone else is spared.
There isn't any option of sparing them.
Not when the people involved are his sons. Not when it's someone as twisted as Lucien who has so many agendas she can't keep them straight. It's more than just restoring his full power. It's more than just gaining back his immortality. He wants his army. He wants his witches. He wants to break them just to prove he can.
The tears well up in her eyes again once he holds her face, and she feels the warmth in his hands, the trembling in them as he holds them. Her grip on his own face tightens, as if a reminder he needn't be so cautious. She isn't scared of him, and while he may not trust himself at the moment, she does.
"I know you won't," she says, her voice thick with the tears that won't fall. Her face finally crumples because she sees it. The pieces. What's left of him. The once lively man filled with energy and restlessness is now in pieces and it hurts. "I know you won't leave me. I trust you."
She doesn't look away from him, as painful as it is, her palm sliding further up his cheek until it's resting at his neck. Her fingertips are directly against his pulse line, the reminder he's still alive, and as long as they're alive it can't be hopeless. It can't be, and she brings him over to her, her forehead resting against the side of his face.
The emotions tangled up in his chest are the same ones that are tangled up in hers, tightening it until she doesn't think she can breathe. It shouldn't have ended like this, it shouldn't have been like this at all, and she doesn't know how to change it.
She doesn't know how to go back.
"I'm not leaving you, either."
Elena is literally incapable of doing so.
There's no way to know where everyone else is. If they're alive or if they aren't. If their brothers -- she doesn't allow herself to finish that thought or she'll finish breaking. There's no way of knowing anymore, but he is before her and she knows that as long as he's breathing, in whatever condition he finds himself, Elena will not leave him.
You've only got a few hours until the full moon.
Her heart stops.
Her heart actually stops for several beats when he says it. It stops right in her chest before it all but stumbles out of her, as if it's dropped onto the floor, and the rest of what is said between Ethan and Lucien is drowned out by the palpable quickening of her heartbeat once it's rammed back into her, full throttle.
Elena stumbles when Ethan races towards the bars.
The shock hasn't worn off, not by a longshot, and she doesn't try getting back up. At least, not at first. She backs up against the wall instead as it slowly dawns on her why she was brought here. The full moon. That means Ethan -- Ethan is going to turn into a werewolf while they're both in the cell.
She feels sick to her stomach along with the horror that rams into her all at once. The panic she's been fighting off so successfully bubbles up to the surface helplessly, and she should've known she wouldn't be allowed to see any of them if it wasn't for a price.
That's the lesson everyone learns in this godforsaken universe, isn't it?
Elena shakes her head, her eyes burning, her chest flaming with it. "N-no."
Her eyes drop to the ground as she tries wrapping her head around it, wrapping her head around the thought of anyone sick enough to do something like this, and to their own son, no less. But he doesn't think of them as sons, does he?
They're projects.
Disposable ones, at that.
The evidence of it only fuels her anger and hatred further.
"I hope you rot in hell, you sick bastard," she practically spats out, unable to hold her tongue in spite of what she knows they will not be changing, for all their protests and all their fighting against each and every challenge that's been posed on them, as if they're lab rats trapped in a maze.
Her hands curl over the bars, gripping them tightly as her eyes flash with hatred. It is all-consuming. Not even the thought of Klaus could bring forth such a visceral reaction anymore.
"You can't do this. You need me alive, at least until it's all over. You don't know how much blood you require for the ceremony. You don't know how it works because it's never been done before. You wouldn't risk it," she says, forcing the panic to stay out of her voice in csae it's not true, but everything about what was written in the books was vague.
A doppelganger had never existed before in this universe.
The blood of the doppelganger must be drained.
There's no word on how much of her blood he needs.
This has to be another test.
It has to be unless he's found a loophole he isn't being forthcoming about and she needs to believe there isn't any because the thought of her -- the thought Ethan being forced to rip her to shreds is not something she can stomach.
Please, no.
Anything but this.
Anything but this.