An Original Awakening

Chapter 8: Between Light and Darkness

   'Either I'm in a dream or Bonnies dead and somehow I'm awake, but I don't feel alive or even feel anything.'
Elena found her feet, the coffin she'd been sleeping in was gone, she found herself awake in a pasture of grass somewhere that seemed like it might be a fantasy; her mind was acting up, she could tell, but the sign to her left read: 'Welcome to Mystic Falls,' all written in perfect, bold white writing - she was awake in her home town, but she was like a ghost or maybe she was really dreaming since the sign seemed to intangible to her touch and all around her.
  Bonnie wasn't dead, she told herself, because she would know since the spell Kai Parker had used to silence her in a temporarily eternal slumber tied Bonnies life to hers like a thread and once the thread had broken; when Bonnie was dead that is, Elena would be free to wake from her long nap, perhaps the world would be the same and all of it might have just been one long recurring nightmare, maybe Elena had been dreaming in a sleep all her life and nothing and no one she knew or had seen in her twenty years of life had existed - she was wrong of course, but a moment to think that everything would be better one day, it was the levity that helped her forget, kind of how a vampire could compel a mortal or an original could compel a non-original vampire to forget their mind. Maybe that was easier than letting in all the pain of loss and suffering she and everyone she loved had to endure.
   If she was in the real world again, her friends would no doubt be in danger, but it wasn't like she could offer them any help. They wouldn't be able to see her, Elena paused as she remembered being forced out of her body by magic. She felt a gust as her mind flashed her back to the moment, as she went back so did the clouds in the sky and the light of the sun fell towards the east of the sky and the dark clouds scattered above a black sky. She looked ahead to see where she was, the Salvatore family crypt; where she was laid to rest in her coffin by Stefan and Damon appeared before her.
   It was dark at night as she made it closer with each step, suddenly a few shadowed figures appeared out from behind the trees surrounding the crypt, the light of a firewood torch revealed the mask that belonged to Lillian Salvatore. Behind her were three of her six Heretic followers; two women and one man.
"Do it. Use your siphoning, remove the spell on the crypt, they killed Oscar so I'm going to return the favour by taking away the one thing they all love above all else."
   The three of them channelled enough power to break the seal that Bonnie had left on the door to the family crypt, leaving them with open access to the inside. Elena followed them in despite the fact that Lily had just threatened to kill her. Is this why she was here, because she died and the spell somehow kept her safe? All would become clear, she realised.
   Inside the crypt, her coffin was where it had been all along, but something wasn't right, perhaps it was just her who noticed, but the box seemed as if it had just been opened, Lilly had her three Heretics check if the coffin itself was spelled shut, yet it wasn't.
"Lilly, are you sure about this?" one of the female Heretics asked her.
  "As sure as I'll be when I have both my sons heads," she spoke without a soul.
    Nothing could stop her now. Lilly took no time to hesitate when she forced the coffin open, but whatever hesitation she disregarded had suddenly caught her off guard when she saw an empty coffin.
"She's not here." the other female Heretic observed.
    "No. No, no, no, no. Nora, Mary Louise, both of you perform a locator spell, here, Kai Parker was a reckless fool, but at least he was smart enough to bring me a vial of Elena Gilbert's blood. Find her!"
   The two Heretics: Mary Louise and Nora each took sips from the vial of Elena's blood, joining their hands, together they softly began to chant without any words uttered, they were performing a locator spell, even Bonnie couldn't have performed it like them, except she wouldn't have needed another witch to help. It seemed that even as outcasts, the Heretics were more like family to themselves than their living blood had been to them from their infancy till death and rebirth. Elena could see it in them that Lilly had taken the role of parenthood for them, but thinking back to when she and Damon found her in the 1903 prison world, she told them that her Heretic children had saved her from the evil that resided inside her, clearly she must've done the same for them, but now whatever evil was inside her ... it was only getting worse than it ever had been before.
"Lilly," Nora cried to her as both she and Mary Louise had blood leaking from their eyes.
    Lilly and her other Heretic inspected every inch of the coffin, even checking if Elena's body was cloaked by magic, but again, there was no magic to be siphoned, meaning Elena had been moved before they even made it to the crypt. Perhaps just mere moments before.
"We couldn't find Elena, whoever got to her before us, they have a witch who's used magic to cloak her from us, we can't break though the magic, but perhaps there's another way for us to find her  if we jus-" Mary Louise tried to explain before Lilly cut her off.
"Forget about it. If we can't track her down, there's another way."
After Lilly's last words, Elena felt the gusts grow into a wind sweeping storm that propelled her - barely dragging her feet through the dirt and grass - the night faded and the present sun and blue sky returned to her eyes. The past was in the past, Elena had just found out that her body was missing, but whoever had it was most likely trying to protect her, although there was always still the chance that whoever had her was trying to keep her hidden for a reason. Even if she wasn't sleeping in her spirit form which was bound to to the living world without anyone able to see her. Her mind was still hers to control, whatever she saw and whoever she let in was still her choice to determine herself. She could be like an angel or a fairy godmother perhaps and bring a smile to her friends, Bonnie and Carolines faces or get rid of all the monsters that little kids were scared off; she recalled overhearing baby cries moments before her soul was being stripped away from her slumbering body.
In fact, right now, those same cries were coming from somewhere nearby. Elena found herself trapped in this spiritual world of her own as the cries brought her staring with a face as innocent as the face of an infant, it sounded like a girl, she couldn't imagine what kind of parent would leave their child out in the open, but no way was it any ordinary baby girl. It might be nice to have a little bit of company, except what did Elena know about raising a baby. Even though she wanted one for herself in her years awaiting her.
The crying stopped but was louder when Elena made it to the edge of the woods where a car seat that kept a baby girl strapped in along with a pink fluffy coat (was it really cold?). Elena recalled; it was weird to, but she imagined that her cries were the same as the Ines she'd heard when she was pulled out of her body. She thought for a moment that all babies cries sounded the same, except for hers, now she was face to face with the innocent small face of the little one who calmed down when she was greeted with Elena company. Her crying didn't stop altogether, she must be hungry, Elena wondered, but how would she be able to get her baby food, formula or milk when she was like a ghost and unable to touch anything or any one ... except for her.
The two of them could see each other, and touch, Elena unbuckled her from her car seat and picked her up gently, she carefully pulled her in close and rocked her back and forward on her thin shoulder, hoping it would calm her down and stop her from breathing so heavily that she might suffocate. The girl was starting to get heavier each time Elena rocked her, she shook but didn't move when the thrums rocked against her chest where she rested her against, she stopped crying as the two of them felt the scene of the sky swirl around them, the picture was spinning, but they remained perfectly still, neither of them felt dizzy except it was almost impossible not to be hypnotised by the endless circles of colours and change of scenery, instead of outside, the two of them ended up inside Bonnie's house where upstairs, Elena saw Klaus holding the same baby she was, except in Klaus' arms she was asleep, wouldn't wake up, Elena understood immediately that she was Klaus Mikaelson's daughter, he was accompanied by a thin blonde young girl; she looked almost exactly like Rebekah, Elena noticed.
   "Freya, I don't understand, she won't wake, what's happening?" Klaus was scared and teary-eyed as he cradled her close against him.
   She was lifeless, and Elena was haunting them both, holding his daughters soul in her arms. Trying to get their attention, she waved her free hand across their faces and called out at them both,
   "Klaus, if you can hear me, I'm right here, and I have your daughter, tell me, what should I do?" neither of the, heard her.
      As her hand lay perched on Klaus' left shoulder, this time she made solid contact with him, it stirred him up as if she'd just walked over his grave, but behind her was the other Mikaelson she recognised, it was Elijah, he got Klaus' attention by shaking his shoulder.
   Again, Elena tried to get their attention, her hand slapped against Elijah's blazer, this time she made a connection with him and he felt it. He twitched.
   "Elijah, what is it?" Klaus got to his feet with his brother after he handed his baby girl to his sister.
     Elijah itched at his chest where Elena's hand had made contact with him and must've left a tickle as he looked cold and itching.
    "I felt something, it was like a gust or a hand that swept over me," he explained.
     "Freya, do you know what this could mean?" Klaus addressed his sister.
       Freya lay his daughters lifeless body down on the soft bed, sat down beside her and gently placed her left and right palms against her head, softly she chanted and filled the room with a chill of air - she was a witch - that blew back at Elena, holding the sweet baby girl against her.
   Freya stopped as the spell fell back at her.
     "Did it work?" Klaus asked her.
        Freya lifted her off the bed and slowly passed her over to Klaus, he took her gently and hugged her to his heart centre. He loved her, perhaps more than his own life.
   "I couldn't trace her, but I can tell you -" she paused as did Klaus, cradling her with eager eyes "- her spirit is with Elena's."
     Klaus slowly turned to Elijah who had his face turned looking in Elena's direction as she stood gazing at him, carrying the tired little baby girl.
   "Elijah, what is it?" Klaus asked him as if he were a ghost that had returned from the dead.
     Elijah raised his palm in unison with Elena, he couldn't feel her, but his hand brushed up against her cheek, she could almost feel it, but he still couldn't see her. She could see him, that's all that mattered, that and the safety of Klaus' baby girl whom she hugged close without a shadow of fear in her eyes.
    "Niklaus, she is here."