Disclosure:  Twilight and Vampire Diaries are owned by their respective braianics that thought of it. 

Pre Edit Count –   2,354 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: It’s My Life by Bon Jovi.

Previous:

Bella smiles at him. “I don’t know what Klaus has told you, but he has them all.  Elijah, it’s time to end this.  We can go over this now, and again with the rest of them, and yet again with your brother, or we get them all here and go over it all at once.  But Mother Earth has called in Her tools that She had put in place.  Now it is time to pay Her back.  It is why She has made so many Mates right now.” She subtly reminds him of his own mate, and lets him know that this is his reward.

Damon sighs as he holds Bella closer. “And there is more after we do this errand, but it will take a much bigger group to handle it.  But they all have their own tasks.  So what is the answer?” A lot depends on Elijah’s response.  Neither Bella nor Damon wants to go against him, but the alternative is too catastrophic to even entertain.  But they have a choice.

Elijah looks up at them, rubs his face, and finally nods. “I guess it is time to gather them all and get our butts moving.  Mother is calling, after all.”

Now:

That afternoon found them all gathered at Bella’s house.  Elijah had promised her that they had a witch who would enchant the house to make it seem as though Bella and Damon were human.  Damon had mentioned that he may rebuild his own home to have a place for these types of meetings if they needed to continue.

He knew that Bella didn’t want her home open to just anyone, and there is no way she wanted Stefan being able to come and go; she told Elijah that she had an odd feeling about the vampire.  There was just something about him and his almost maniac need to be with Elena.

There had been enough issues with having Klaus come to the meeting, but come he did, and everyone glared at him and at Damon and Bella since they had told everyone that there would be no attacking him.

Klaus just smirks as he settles in his seat. “Well, dear brother, looks like you found your heirs.  And for them to be mated, well isn’t that a coup for you?” He stares at the two new family members in front of him, but he has an odd feeling there is another family member here who he did not know.  He has had this feeling a couple times, and has wondered each time who it is.

Elijah just gives him a look, and then switches his gaze to the aforementioned pair. “This is your meeting; you guys can tell us what information you received today.” He settles as close as he can to Elena but in such a way that he is close to his daughter as well.  He trusts that Damon can protect her, but the need to be near her is strong.

Bella sits at her desk and Damon stands behind her with the two of them in physical contact. “Today we were given information on why the Mated pairs are starting to show up.  There has been something blocking Mates from finding each other, taking it to the point of killing the other half if need be. That is why it was so hard for us to find the other ones, and from the information we are receiving, Mother Earth is tired of it all.”  She looks around then adds, “I don’t think we want HER to be upset if you know what I mean.”

Damon takes up the narrative. “Because of what has been happening, since something is interfering with Her Mates meeting, She has decided to interfere. Seems Mother Earth is responsible for Mates.  Finding the other half of your soul is meant to bring harmony to all species, but something is interfering, and is bringing a dark future to us. So, to prevent that, She is bringing all the Mates into the world again, and She is forcing her players into action.  Whatever, whoever is doing this is tearing the world apart, and soon will be the coming of the Three.  The world will be a different place, literally, and we need to have everything ready for it.  One of the things She has been fighting with the Other Side about is Klaus himself.  She never meant for her Werewolves to be in so much pain when they shift.  They play a big part in what will come, but it is too late for them due to the Cold Ones killing them whenever they could.”

He pauses, then admits with a shrug of his shoulders, “Although, the ones killing them were set up and have a legitimate reason to be doing it. We are up against some sneaky people who have been planning for this for millenniums and we are the rock she has thrown at an unexpected moment. While our plans will help, She has mentioned that a new pack is coming about that is unreal to the rest of the world.  This new pack is getting their world reshaped, and we will be getting help from them. They will have to take the duties of the werewolves who were to have been under Klaus’s control by now.” He rubs his Mates shoulders and wonders along with her how many times she has been on the earth for him to find but was killed before he could. However, there is no guarantee that this is not the first time around for Bella’s soul.  There is no set time for a pair of Mates to meet. But he hopes that she is a new soul, that she has not suffered through the ages as they tried to meet over and over again.

The rest of the group just stares at them in shock, then Stefan demands of the two with a frown on his face, “So you want Elena to die for this Mother Nature?” He cannot believe that Damon would allow this.  No, this has to be his so-called Mate’s interference.  She is just trying to kill the woman who held Damon’s attention before her.  Nothing can harm Elena!!! Nothing!

Bella lifts her eyebrow at him as Damon gives him a look of pure hell. They both feel the wrongness since they came back, and with what they know, there is something wrong. The only thing they know is that Damon is the rock thrown to help Stefan, and Bella is the rock for Damon. There was so much that their Mother had to work with, and to have some of the stuff from the past to be countered, well even she cannot tell them all of it. However, She has left them with some vague impressions, and Stefan is a major impression that there is something wrong. “No.  There will be some hardships, and Elena will need to be changed to complete it, but we are not sacrificing anyone who doesn’t deserve it. We would have rather found a way to keep her alive as Elijah had planned to do, a witche’s spell or a potion of some sort. Instead, regretfully, the best way is for her to die. Or have someone give their life for her.  Nothing else will work.  A life for a life. The Fates have it written that Elena should die in the ritual, so a life has to be given to counter it. Not even She can deny them something like this. She can have Elena come back as a new person, but there is no guarantee how long that will take.” His voice has that tone that indicates he thinks his brother is insane.  Allow Elena to die and have Elijah being torn between his daughter and his Mate?  Never!  No, they had both argued about this to Mother Earth and She had shown them the results.  A life for a life is the only answer.

Listening to all of this, Klaus’s smirk grows. “So you are going to allow me to transform?” He clasps his hands before him and stares at the two leading the group right now as he waits to hear what they say. He hates to sound so self-serving, but none of these blokes really can understand the pain of  being denied the freedom of changing. His pain, as far as he can tell, is worse than what the werewolves suffer through to transform. His body is trying to change, and the spell holds it off, one second after the change starts. One fucking second and it’s enough to start his whole body aching, his bones to start shattering and so forth. So yes, he really wants to change. He really wants the pain to stop; he has suffered terribly since the curse was cast.

Bella rolls her eyes at him. While she and Damon had been aghast at the pain he suffers, neither of them can quite excuse all the pain and suffering he has caused. But they do understand why he has daggered Bella’s family. And they respect him for the idea, thought they think he could have done it in another way. Now, neither of them will allow them to die. She tells him with an arched eyebrow, “And you are going to un-dagger my aunt and uncles.  We also need to deal with your mother’s coffin since she is already preparing to come back to try to end you.” She lays out the terms to Klaus that the two of them had decided using the information that they had been given.  Even though Bella’s experience with family so far has not been the greatest, they know Elijah wishes to have his brothers and sister back.  Damon wishes his mentor not to have to suffer anymore. Pure and simple. He will protect his Mate from her family if need be.

Just staring at her, Klaus asks, “Excuse me?” His eyebrow lifts as he stares down Bella.  The two of them meet stare for stare, and the longer they are at it, the more those present can see the family resemblance between them.  Amused, Elijah finally shakes his head and meets Damon’s similarly amused gaze. He loves that Klaus has another in the family that won’t take his shit.

Letting it go on to allow them the chance to show that they really are family, Damon finally sighs when he feels the contest is now entering the ridiculous stage. “Your mommie dearest is plotting to come back and kill her children, therefore ending all vampires since if you die, so do we.   I knew that line of Salvatores was sick, but never to this degree.” He rolls his eyes at the branch that he had researched with Bella’s blessing as he tried to get a handle on them.  They were all a bit more mystically inclined than his branch. He couldn’t think of why she would think it was such a great idea to end vampires when the alternative is the Cold Ones. They will overrun the Earth. Yet another thing they had to deal with.

They all stare at them, and Alaric finally says, “You guys are all related?” He cannot believe it.  Everyone seems to be related to each other in this odd little town.  It’s making him wonder, and the more time he spends under Damon and Bella’s influence, the more alive that researcher part of himself becomes. He chuckles to himself, it isn’t like the hunter side is doing any good. He is learning how powerful the vampires really are.

Elijah nods, remembering their earlier conversation and him filling in some of the blanks they had. “Any vampire we sire is connected to us.  And as you said, we are related.  Seems Mother had a plan, and our mother has been spending a lot of time disrupting it from here and from the Other Side.  She thinks that what she’s doing is right, but we suspect that there is someone else behind it all.  But, to tell you the truth, we don’t have time to figure it out right now.” He growls the last part out because he really wants to know who is trying to direct everything from the shadows and what their plans must be for his family.   He is just happy that Damon and Bella will continue even if his mother kills her family.

Damon nods, bringing their attention back to them as he feels something like a ghost moving behind him. He looks, but he tells them, “Bonnie has been fed lies all her life to try to make her hate vampires, and even her Grams’ death was part of the plot to make her hate vampires, me in particular.  The stone thrown to counter that was thrown a couple thousand years ago, and we have Bella here to thwart the witch.  But it is free will that governs everything, and that fucks up everything, too.” He scrunches his face as he explains, trying to figure out how to put it to this group.  Free will determines everything.  It is what allows the plans to be screwed up; it allows the Other Side to mess up everything, and it leaves it up to them if they will fix it.

Bella nods her head as she takes over for him. “Free will led to the wolves being almost wiped out. Free will led us to this mess that we have today where people who should be working together are, in fact, enemies of each other.  And free will is what will fix this.  We are the stones thrown throughout time to counter the enemies, and it’s up to us to accept our roles, or not.” She feels Damon’s hands pressing on her and his support flowing through to her, and she sends her own love and support back to him. They both had issues with what was needed, with neither wanting the death of Elena. Damon had told her how much Elena didn’t want to die, how she loved Stefan, and couldn’t think of how to handle a future that did not include him, but allowed her to have children. Now they both know it is Elijah who is meant for her.

They both look over the group, and then he informs them, “Elijah is to take control of the Cold Ones, and our type of vampire, until the fated Three come.  Seems the Cold Ones were an answer to us, and someone made them purposely to fight against us, their own stone throw from the past to counter us.  That whole free will thing?  Well, it worked out well.  There aren’t many of them who know who made them, nor owe them any fealty, but this was planned so that if we got our shit together, we can’t find out from them who our enemy is.  So, we need to go in and control them.  Klaus is to be in control of the wolves, except this new pack.  This new pack was supposed to be the enemy, but that free will kicked in and now they are allied to us. For once it is working on our side.  They have their own structure and way of working, and believe me, Klaus, you wouldn’t wish what they are suffering through on your worst enemy.” He clears his throat as he remembers how they had felt the wolves’ agony for a few seconds, and never wanted to feel that again. Neither he nor Bella would want their suffering; they had felt it all, even greeted the leaders of the new allies, but both could feel the deep sorrow in both of them. In them was the wish of a life together that was betrayed by someone.

Damon expresses to them, “Though we say Elijah is in control, there is one who is above us all right now, and he is the one who will coordinate all the others.  Then there are the Bennet witches who were supposed to be the leaders of the witches.  If Witchy here doesn’t get her shit together, then it will pass on to someone else.  There are no leeways. Mother Nature allows you your choices, but She will take action and replace you.” He stares at Bonnie, not caring beyond the fact they knew who the leader of the witches is.  Neither Damon nor Bella thinks Bonnie deserves it.  She is too immature at this time. She has used her powers for petty revenge, and while they consider the reason why valid, the ways she has used her actual powers against him are nothing but petty. Setting him on fire in such a slow way to increase his pain and fear?

Then Bella smiles at Jasper, letting him know he is to be a part of them. She may take a little time to understand everything, but she can’t hide the truth; she will forgive him. She still wants to know the rest of his story.  “You are to be the leader of the hybrids under Klaus.  Again, something that arose out of free will, but She is using you.  And there are far more of you than you think.  Demetri only catches them if they are like him.  Seems there are more like me than we guessed, and yes, the venom has some properties that it gives to my type that it doesn’t give to those like him.  You, Jasper, are actually the closest to being half and half of all the beings out there.” And that had been a shock.  There was an actual rule that a Cold One is not to suck out venom because of the chance that it could result in the person becoming a hybrid.  Luckily it fell by the wayside before it could be circulated. No one of the Cold Ones know the rule; it has been forgotten with the beginnings of their race.

The two of them look at each other, not liking the next part, but felt the need to let the group know. It had been one of the times they had argued with Gaia as they did not want Elena to be used just for her blood, to be regulated to nothing but a blood bag. But She showed that her hands were tied in this as it is under the control of the Fates. So, they tell them.  “Elena will need to have blood withdrawn often since Klaus will need her blood to complete the changes of any afterwards.  Unless we need them to be more powerful than normal, then they can have some of her blood from her being a vampire.  It had been part of the curse, a way for your mother to keep Klaus from achieving everything he was supposed to. We argued about this, as well as the whole kill Elena thing, but we were told that she had no power over it. Again, we can ignore her information, and then need to wait. It’s her choice.”  They stare at Elijah, knowing it will come down to him at the end. If he cannot stand for his Mate to go through it, then they will back aside. And Elena’s choice is the end all of it all. But they were going through the lines.

Elijah doesn’t like what he is hearing. This is his Mate, not some bloodbag.  He had not liked it when they mentioned it earlier, though not in such detail. But he acknowledges that yet again they are only reacting to what has been done in the past. It does not excuse the choices they are giving, but they are making sure they all know it is having that choice which make the difference. He will not stand in the way of his Mate standing up for what she believes, but if they try to force her, he will fight even his long-awaited daughter for her right to choose.

The sad thing, though,  is that they are playing a catch up game, not something he particularly enjoys doing.  He stands up and tells them all seriously, “I am not happy with this set of requests.  It should not cost the life of anyone, not of one who wants so much more in her life.  However, on the other hand, this is it.  The people in this room need to decide if we are going to continue being the puppets of others who don’t seem to take our free will into consideration, or do what we were born to do and have the complete free will to do as we wish. I will enforce that right for everyone, against any of you, with my life if needed to be.” He meets each of their eyes, then continues, “At the same time, as long as choices are accepted and made freely, I for one will be doing my best to do what Mother wishes.  Seems She has put a lot of work into this to fix everything.  What say you?” He stares at each one, making certain they understand this is not just about Klaus’s curse, but about many more things coming their way to fix what has been done in the past. He hates the fact that while he will gain her for eternity, it will cost Elena her life.  But the part of him that wants her happy is upset with the truth that she would rather grow old and die with her family around her. He is divided and, knowing this, gives the choice to his Mate without her even knowing what he is sacrificing for her.

Elena nods as she makes up her mind. “I will do it.” She has listened to every bit of the information that Bella and Damon had given her. A life for a life. Either her life or someone else’s for her to survive the ritual. And hearing the options for what would happen if she did not go through it, well, she cannot have it. It sounds like the alternative would make her loved ones and friends suffer more. She cannot even bare to think her decision makes their lives harder. Yes, she wants children, but she doesn’t want them if that choice makes life hell for them. And becoming a vampire is obviously not so bad, look at Damon and Bella.

Jumping up, Stefan demands of her, “No!  I will not allow it!! You are mine, and you have never wished to be a vampire.  I won’t allow you to give up your human life just because somebody says it’s needed!” This is not how this works!!! They have suffered and bled to make sure she remains alive, not for her to give it all up so easily!  There is no proof that any of this is even for real!

Glaring at the man in front of her, Elena stands up to face him, not knowing that Elijah has moved close to her and so has Klaus. “Allow it?  It’s my life, Stefan! And I can do what I chose with it!  If you cannot accept it, then you can leave.  I will no longer be a face in the crowd, going with the flow.  I wanted to be myself, and I see that you are not going to allow it.  Enough.” She turns to face Damon and Bella, and nods to them, letting them know she will do what is needed. No, she won’t allow Stefan save her to sacrifice the world as the alternative. She is not sure that is the future that could happen, but she cannot forgive herself if she allows it.

Klaus catches something out of the corner of his eye, and when he looks at his brother, he can see the elation going through him at Elena standing up for herself.  And then he realizes that the doppelganger is Elijah’s Mate. She is the one that completes the last part of Elijah, and he shakes his head with the knowledge that his brother wouldn’t tell her, that she would have to make the choice for herself.  That makes him reevaluate his speech in a new light.  He was telling them that Elijah would fight for her right to choose.

That makes him reevaluate everything.  Sure, he is jealous that Elijah found Bella.  But to find out that his brother has been suffering because of the separation from Elena… He realizes that life is much more complicated than what he has always taken it as.  He knew of the pain that Finn and Sage had suffered, and it dawns on him that he will have much to answer for.  And starting now, he will do so.  If their Mates are being reborn, then there might be a chance that he will find his own.  He doesn’t want what he has done in the past, much less what he currently does, to drive away his Mate; he wants to be worthy of his Mate.

He nods and straightens up as he states in his accented voice, “I am willing to do my part.  The ritual conditions will be set in three days.  I will have our brothers and sister un-daggered and awake by then.  I take it you have an idea for the wolf and vampire I will be needing to kill?”  He looks at Damon and Bella since they are running the show. He is giving them the Alpha position he has fought for and achieved for most of his life.

Stefan twirls around to face the hybrid they had been set to give their lives to in Elena’s defense, and demands, “And that is all you are going to say?  ‘I am willing to do my part and what can I do?’  I don’t get this!” He is vibrating in anger over what is going on.  None of it makes sense.  His brother and his so-called Mate say they need to do this, and they all just agree?  How can they be sure that Bella and Klaus aren’t in cahoots with each other? He actually vibrates with rage and glares at Bella, knowing this is all her fault. His whole world is falling in on him and it all started when she arrived.

Seeing him actually vibrating as he glares at Bella, Klaus walks in front of him, blocking her from his view and shakes his head. “Stefan, mate.  When the Mother of Creation calls for you to take your place, you answer Her with love and a ‘yes ma’am.’  I am tired.  All I want is for the curse to be lifted from me so I don’t have the feeling of trying to change and not being able to every full moon.  It hurts, to be frank.  And now we are being told that there has been no reason for all the pain for these many years not only for me, but for the wolves, too?  How can I answer otherwise?” He looks at the person he had once counted as a friend, though he admits he had enjoyed Stefan’s ripper phase.  It had been a sign of how much he had been hurting to want to see others suffer more. But he is not liking how Stefan is acting, the protective instincts that made him dagger his family to save them, knowing that they would hate him for it, but he did it anyway to allow them to be around to be able to hate him, surge forth at the thought of Stefan attacking Bella. He has admitted to himself that she is family.

His hands clenching and unclenching, Stefan is enraged.  He has had everything ripped from him time and time again, either by his brother or by fate.  He is tired of being the good one, but had thought it was all worth it because of Elena.  And now finding out that she is not his, that she is refusing him, fires through him making it hard to control himself. He snarls at them, his eyes black, as his rage focuses on the one being who, in his mind, made this all happen, and he jumps to attack.

Before he can reach anyone, Bella and Damon react and imprison him in the same lightning cage Bella had used before on Jasper.  This time, because they are doing it together, there is hardly any strain on them, both of them using the powers that are natural to them. The ease of it makes them glance at the other, but then they bring their attention to Stefan. Damon is vibrating with the rage that his own brother had went for his Mate. But even with that action against his Mate, Damon still doesn’t want to hurt Stefan.

Jasper shakes his head.  He had been hardheaded but this man?  He lifts an eyebrow to Bella and Damon, asking if he should proceed with his gift to send the overwrought vampire to sleep, hoping that he will wake in a more reasonable mood.  When Damon nods to him, he sends his power towards the globe, and he feels the resistance of the shield, but then his power seeps through into the globe and knocks out the vampire inside it.  It is an odd sensation to say the least, but it ups his respect of his Bella and her Mate, for the power they held, but had used to only hold the vampire in it that had been snarling at them, his fangs dripping with his rage.

Then Jasper stands up, and, trusting the two after that demonstration of their power, he walks into the globe to grab the vampire.  “In the dungeon?” he asks casually, his southern accent coming through as he walks out with Stefan in his arms as the globe dissolves behind him.

They nod. Damon tells him, “There is a room that smells of him. Put him in the chains over his clothing to make sure he cannot get out.” Jasper nods, and leaves to deposit the vampire somewhere that can hold him.

Then everyone looks at Bonnie.  She is the last one who really matters and they need to learn her answer.  The others are important, but she right now needs to decide on what she is going to do.

Bonnie had been thinking about what they have been saying, and didn’t like the implication that she has been manipulated all this time into the position she is in now. Killing her Grams in such a way as to make her blame Damon and vampires in general for it is a low blow, especially since she fell for it.  But how can she be sure that this is the right choice?  She has been given the power of hundreds of witches to beat Klaus, and now to discover that the power is not to be used for that purpose?

But before she could speak, a light engulfs her and she sees what Damon and Bella have seen, and she sees what she was supposed to be.  It was not their job to tell the rest what She wanted.  It was hers.  But because of free will and because she had hardened her heart against what should be, Mother Nature could not get through to her. When she finally started asking the right questions, enough shifted in her heart that the connection, which should have existed all this time, was finally made.

When the Mother of all of them releases her, she gasps as she grabs the back of the chair.  So much that could have been, so much that she had fought against, was put into play to make her do exactly that.  And right now was the choice.  She makes what she believes is the right one. “I accept.”

Damon and Bell grin at each other in relief.  The major players are set, now the minor ones in their group need to be told, and they can get to work.  They have such a short time, and the sooner Klaus is changed, the sooner it will be better for all of them.

With a look to Bonnie, the three start explaining what needs to be done.  Considering how the curse had been twisted, any vampire and wolf will do.  As they revealed this and other things, it becomes obvious that they all have been manipulated, but now this group is taking action against those who have tried to take away their free will.

Final count:  5,452 words.

Fairfarren~Wendy

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