18. One Way Or Another

It was now morning and Aria was now driving her and Kol, still in Marty's body, to Memphis where Valerie had managed to track Kol's body.

Aria looked towards Kol, she smiled seeing him asleep, but then concern took over, when she realised Kol could be asleep, or he could be dead, "Kol?!" Aria called, shaking Kol's shoulder, "Kol!?".

"Ugh" Kol groaned, slowly waking up, making Aria breathe a sigh of relief, "What happened?".

"You fell asleep after puking blood all over Ric's car, which we're going have to pay and get cleaned up" Aria realised, "Oh, since you said everything hurt, I stopped at a pharmacy and got you all the medications I could get", Aria grabbed the plastic bag from the backseat and handed it over to Kol.

"Thanks" Kol said, "By the way, where are we?".

"We are on our way to Memphis" Aria informed, "Valerie managed to track down your real body, Ric and Damon are going to meet us there".

"How the bloody hell did my body end up in Memphis of all places?" an annoyed Kol asked.

"He managed to trick Damon" Aria informed.

"Of course" Kol mumbled, suddenly puking out more blood into the bag Aria got him.

"Oh god" Aria whispered, "Damon was right when he said there's no way I can take you to Memphis like this".

"What are you doing?" a confused Kol asked, seeing Aria park the car on the side.

"Calling 911" Aria informed, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialing 911.

"911, what's your emergency?".

"Ri, I can't go to a hospital" Kol protested, "Marty Hammond got drunk off his ass and ended up crashing a bus full of kids, there's a freaking manhunt going on for him".

"Which is why I'm not taking you to the hospital" Aria assured, "We just need an ambulance".

"You're kidding right?" Kol asked.

"Nope" Aria said, "Kol Mikaelson, you're now going to Memphis in an ambulance, so just sit back and relax".

***

"Don't judge" Aria said stepping out of the ambulance, as Damon and Alaric walked over to her, "The other medications weren't working on him so I compelled those two paramedics to make sure Marty stays alive, and while they do that, us three are on hunting down that sociopath duty and once we do that I will jam Kol's soul back into his body and we will all be on our mary way, got it?".

"You haven't done magic in years" Alaric reminded Aria, confusing Damon, "Are you sure you're going to be able to do this?".

"I have to Ric, for Kol" Aria stated.

"Why haven't you done magic in years?" Damon asked curiously.

"Long story" Aria simply said.

"I have time" Damon assured, wanting to know what was going on with Aria.

"Well I don't" Aria snapped, she then turned back to Alaric, "What did Valerie find out about the vampire in Kol's body?".

"His name is Ambrose" Alaric informed, "Turns out, he's holed up in a frat house near Memphis college".

"Here's to maybe he'll be so busy snacking on drunk sorority girls, this'll be an easy smash-and-grab" Damon said.

"Here's hoping" Aria said, she then proceeded to walk towards the car.

"You're sure this is how you want to play it, Aria?" Alaric asked, stopping Aria from walking away, "You know, maybe you brought Marty an hour or so, but, you know, when the same thing happened to Jo, I don't know, maybe you wanna consider spending your remaining time just being with Kol".

"You did not just suggest that" Aria said, glaring at the man infront of her, "If you don't want to be part of this, then fine you can leave, but I'm not stopping till I save Kol".

Without listening to another word, Aria sat in the car.

"Great going, Ric" Damon said, rushing over to Aria, knowing if they delayed she would just drive off.

***

"So what did I miss when I was gone?" Damon asked, as he drove him and Aria to Memphis, "What's been happening?".

"I can't do this right now, Damon" Aria said.

"Come on Aria, we have nothing better to do, might as well fill me in with everything that I missed" Damon said.

"What's the point?" Aria asked, looking at Damon, "When all this is over, you're going to leave again, there's no point in me telling you anything".

Damon looked at Aria, "And if I don't?" he asked.

"What?" Aria asked.

"What if I don't leave again?" Damon asked.

Aria looked out the window, "You took five years to come back Damon, people have changed, their lives have kept moving, now, there's no space for you".

Damon sighed, "In peoples lives or yours?".

Aria looked at Damon, anger evident on her face, "I waited Damon, I waited three damn years for you to come back, when the triplets found out about you, I made sure they knew you as the person I knew, not the monster the world thought you were, I waited each day, each night for you but you never came, not for me and not for your children, so I decided to finally move on, and now that I have, you can't come back into my life, it doesn't work like that, I'm tired of waiting for you Damon, I'm tired of loving you with everything I had, while you didn't even love me enough to stay".

"I loved you that's why I left" Damon snapped, "Why don't you get it Ria? If I stayed you and the triplets were always going to be in danger, I made the hardest decision of my life to keep you safe".

"That's wasn't your choice to make" Aria snapped back, "And guess what, even without you me and the triplets were in danger, so you leaving did nothing but give both of us pain, so hope you're happy with yourself".

"Wait, what do you mean you and the triplets were in danger?" a confused Damon asked.

"Let's just say the armory needs Connor witches for their evil plans" Aria informed.

"Is that why you didn't use your magic?" Damon asked, "To stop the armory from finding you?".

Aria nodded, "Turns out, when my mother was alive she had shut a vault in the armory, and now the armory needs someone from her bloodline to open the vault, but from what I read in my mother's grimoire, whatever she shut in that vault, it needs to be kept away, so I stopped using my magic and started taking these pills to stop them from doing a locator spell on me".

"Are those pills safe?" Damon asked concerned.

Aria shrugged, "Don't know" she simply replied.

"Aria" Damon said.

"Damon, those pills kept me away from the armory's radar, I don't care if they're safe or not, I cared about having a normal life" Aria stated, looking out the window, letting Damon know she no longer wanted to talk to him.

***

After a pretty long and awkward drive, Damon and Aria finally arrived at the frat house Valerie had located Kol's body at, Damon kicked open the frat house door and the duo saw the vampire in Kol's body, draining the blood out of someone.

"Damon!" Ambrose greeted, "I was wondering if you'd show up, come in friend, have a drink", Ambrose's eyes landed on Aria, "Oh, whose you're pretty friend?".

"None of your business" Damon snapped, trying to enter frat house but failed as a barrier stopped him, making him and Aria realise they needed to be invited in.

"Oh, dear" Ambrose taunted, "Looks like you're a pledge who didn't make the cut, I guess now you'll just have to slog through a bit of old-fashioned hazing".

Aria and Damon looked at each other, realising this was going to be much harder then they thought.

***

"Great, now what do we do?" a frustrated Aria asked, as her and Damon walked back to Damon's car.

"You know, all of this would be so much easier if you let me stop Ric from leaving" Damon stated.

"He doesn't want to be a part of this anymore Damon, and we can't force him" Aria argued.

"Well now we're stuck outside while Kol's body is stuck inside and the body his soul is stuck in dies in that damn ambulance" Damon argued back.

"Gee, thanks captain obvious, thank you for stating everything I already knew" Aria snapped.

"You're welcome" Damon said, giving Aria a mock smile.

"You--".

"Excuse me" a woman called out, walking over to Damon, "Are you Damon Salvatore?".

"Depends on whose asking" a confused Damon said.

"He said if you don't answer this, I'm supposed to run into traffic" the compelled women informed, handing Damon her phone.

"I'm answering" Damon assured, answering the call, "So I hear your vampire MO is payback for you being a greek-system reject, kind of cliché, don't you think?".

"Why don't you and your pretty friend come on back here, Damon?" Ambrose said, "I'm sure I can remember which attractive, over-privileged parasite owns this place".

"Huh, well, the only parasite I'm interested in is you" Damon retorted.

"You know, I actually don't care much for the taste of blood" Ambrose said, "What I do love are the less obvious perks, eavesdropping skills, mind games, of course it's fun to wantonly murder these class-obsessed imbeciles, but making them kill each other? Oh, that really takes the egg".

"This is all fascinating, really" Damon said, "Here's the thing, I can't hear you that well, I don't think the reception's that good, why don't you just come out, deliver your villainous monologue face-to-face? What do you think?".

"Damon, I know you won't leave me alone until you get your friend's body back, so why don't you do me one small favor, and we both get what we want?" Ambrose suggested.

"How small?" Damon asked.

"Rayna Cruz" Ambrose said, "She chased me across this country for a decade, made my life hell, literally, yours too, I hear".

"What about her?" a confused Damon asked.

"Well, let's just say I made things personal with her, framed her for a couple of massacres, turned her boyfriend" Ambrose informed, "She won't be satisficed until I'm dead, in fact, she's probably on her way over her right now, so, why don't you and your pretty friend go ahead and kill her for me, and I promise I will turn your friend's body back over to you?".

"And why would you do that?" Damon asked, not trusting the vampire.

"Oh, clearly, you are not familiar with the loophole" Ambrose realised, "Well, I can easily jump into the body of a transition vampire, all you need to do is find me a witch who can soul-swap me into the body of a fellow you don't care about, and Kol can have his body back, I, in turn, can mount Rayna Cruz's head on my wall, everybody wins, what do you say, Damon?".

Damon looked at Aria, who nodded, letting Damon know she will do the spell, "Consider it done" he stated.

"Wonderful" Ambrose said.

***

Using her magic for the first time in years, Aria did a locator spell on Damon, what worried her was that a simple locator spell exhausted her, she was worried what would happen to her when she transferred Kol back into his body, but she kept quiet, making sure Damon didn't see her worry.

Damon drove him and Aria to where Rayna was located, arriving  there the duo saw cones spread across the road, while a car seemed to have gotten into an accident.

"That can't be good" Aria whispered as her and Damon stepped out the car.

"What the hell happened her?" Damon asked the driver.

"I had a fare, I was taking her to a frat party and some guy with an accent shot up the car and dragged her away".

"Enzo" Aria realised.

***

"Damon, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Enzo answered his phone.

"Bring her back" Damon demanded.

Enzo glanced at the unconscious Rayna in the back of his car, "No idea what you're talking about" he said.

"Isn't it a little embarrassing still playing fetch for the armory?" Damon asked.

"I'm no longer affiliated with that organisation" Enzo informed, "Try to keep up".

"Fine, enlighten me" Damon said, "What are your exact needs for Rayna Cruz at this moment? Because I promise you, I need her a lot more than you do".

"Oh, is that so?" Enzo asked, "Well, then let me ask you a question, have you noticed something different about your soulmate? You know, the soulmate that you just abandoned? Did you even notice how the once powerful tribrid, can hardly do a locator spell without getting exhausted? I know Kol is currently dying, but Aria will save him, she always saves both of you but now she needs someone to save her, I promised the woman I love I'll help Aria, it's exactly what I plan on doing, so goodbye Damon, you're not getting Rayna".

After Enzo hanged up on him, Damon turned to Aria, "Something's wrong with you, isn't it?".

Aria sighed, "I noticed a few weeks ago, the pills were having weird side effects on me, Enzo volunteered to find what was happening to me, I think he has figured it but he hasn't told me yet".

"And why's that?" Damon asked, suddenly very concerned.

Aria shrugged, "Because I think it's something really bad".

"You're not strong enough to do the spell on Kol, are you?" Damon realised.

"I still have to do it Damon" Aria stated, "It's Kol, after everything he has done for me, I have to do this for him".

Aria then walked towards the car, leaving Damon standing in there in shock, realising after saving Kol, he had to save Aria from whatever the pills had done to her, and Damon promises he will do everything in his power to save her.

***

"Rebekah and Enzo are together" Aria informed Damon, as they sat in the car with Damon driving.

"What?" Damon asked, not sure if he heard Aria correctly.

"Rebekah and Enzo are together and they have a daughter named Nova" Aria informed, "Who happens to be Asher's future wife and Alec's forever enemy".

"What else?" Damon asked, realising Aria was slowly opening up to him.

"Nik and Caroline got married" Aria informed, "Probably one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen, they had it in New Orleans, fun fact, Hope is Mia's Caroline, and Mia is Hope's Aria, also I'm pretty sure Nik is already planning Jayden and Mia's wedding".

"Not happening" Damon stated.

Aria chuckled, "Kol hates Jayden and Mia's friendship as well, oh and Alec and Asher, they are the perfect mixture of you and Kol".

"Me?" Damon asked slightly shocked.

"Yeah, turns out, even when you weren't there, your kids still kept a piece of you alive" Aria said, a fond smile on her face.

Damon looked at Aria curiously, "Why are you telling me all this?" he asked, "Not that I mind, I've been dying to know about the triplets, but I thought you didn't want me near them".

Aria sighed, "I don't know what's happening to me Damon, I don't know what the pills did to me, but if something happens to me, I know Kol will take care of the triplets, but he won't be able to do it alone".

"Stop" Damon stated, "Nothing is happening to you".

"And if something does?" Aria asked, "Will you walk away from the triplets again?".

Damon looked at Aria, "If I tell you that this time I'm here to stay, will you believe me?" he asked.

Aria shook her head, "It's hard to believe you" she whispered.

"I know" Damon whispered, "So I won't say anything, I'll just prove it".

"We'll see" Aria said, just as the phone Ambrose gave Damon started ringing, "Oh lovely".

"I was just about to call you" Damon told Ambrose, answering the phone.

"You know what I have realised?" Ambrose asked, "Between this game of beer pong and the extremely short shorts, the modern Greek life is even less dignified than it once was".

"Listen, we hit a little bump in the road" Damon informed.

"I hope that means you ran over Rayna Cruz and strapped her to the hood of your vehicle" Ambrose said.

"Ambrose, brother, nothing would make me happier than exterminating our little huntress friend, okay?" Damon said, "But I'm gonna need you to take a rain check on the hit, now, listen, I promise I'm gonna get to it, but it's just, she's currently out of range right now, and I am running out of time, what do you say? Do we have a deal?".

"This sense of disappointment must be what it feels like to actually have you for a friend and a lover" Ambrose taunted, hanging up on Damon.

***

Damon and Aria arrived back at the frat house Ambrose was in, just as a women, covered in blood and holding a bloody shard of glass walked out of the house, the same woman who gave her phone to Damon.

"Woah, what happened to you?" Aria asked the women, but she ignored her and kept walking past the duo.

"Hey!" Damon called out, but even he got no response.

Aria and Damon exchanged a confused look, they then went towards the front door.

"Uh oh" Damon said, realising now he and Aria could walk into the house, which meant the owner was dead.

"Oh god, I think I'm going to be sick" Aria whispered, as her and Damon walked further into the house and saw nothing but dead bodies, "Is he gone after Rayna since we failed?".

"No, he wouldn't know where to look" Damon pointed out, "That's why he made us the hit man", he pulled out his phone and dialed Ambrose's number to his and Aria's shock, his phone was placed on top of a dead body.

"Maybe he's gone to look for the next frat to murder" Aria suggested, "Or he's trying to run so we run out of time and--".

"Marty drops dead, with Kol still on board" Damon finished.

Suddenly something crossed Aria's head, "You told the drivers to take Marty to a motel right, where Valerie is?" she asked, Damon nodded his head, "What if he heard you? I mean you were right outside this house when you told them".

"Oh, no, maybe he figures he can get us off his back if he snuffs out Marty and then we won't need Kol's body anymore" Damon concluded.

Aria quickly pulled her phone out and called one of the medics she left Kol with, "This is Frank" the medic answered.

"Where are you Frank?" a panicked Aria asked.

"We hit a little accident-related traffic a few miles back" Frank informed, "We're still driving".

"Dammit!" Aria snapped, "You are a emergency vehicle, why the hell didn't you just run other cars out of the freaking way?".

"Sorry about that" Frank apologised.

"Don't stop again Frank" Aria warned, "Whatever happens, don't stop, turn the siren on and drive as fast as you can, get Kol to Valerie before a lunatic tries to kill him".

"Copy that" Frank said, hanging up on Aria.

Aria looked at Damon, "We need to go, now!".

Damon nodded and with that the two vampires rushed to get to Kol before Ambrose got to him.

***

Kol laid in a house, panting, while Ambrose stood outside the house, not being invited in.

The ambulance Kol was in, Ambrose ended up crashing a car into it, causing the ambulance to flip, and after killing the medics who were compelled by Damon and Aria to take care of Kol, Ambrose went to kill Kol only to realise he had escaped, chasing him, but Kol broke into an empty house, somewhere Ambrose couldn't get in.

"You look like you're in pretty bad shape, Kol" Ambrose observed, "Wouldn't you rather just get this over with?", Ambrose walked away and grabbed a brick from the front of the house, "Think of it this way, at least you won't have to go back to the hell stone" Ambrose threw the brick towards Kol who quickly dodged and quickly crawled behind the wall, "You'll just have the sweet release of death to look forward to".

"Ah" Ambrose said, his eyes landing on something, "Portable stoves, what will they think of next? I think I'm really going to enjoy my life in this new world", Ambrose grabbed the gas cylinder, after turning it on, he threw it into the house, he then grabbed a lighter and lit up a newspaper, "Kol, is there any last words you will like for me to deliver?".

"Go to hell" Kol spat.

"But first you" Ambrose smirked, throwing the flaming newspaper into the house, but suddenly Aria speeded infront of Ambrose and grabbed the newspaper before it could go in the house.

Aria glared at Ambrose, "Time to return Kol's body".

"Yeah" Ambrose whispered, grabbing a wooden plank, he then split it into two and looked at Aria, "That's not going to happen".

Ambrose tried rushing towards Aria to attack her, but before he could, Damon speeded behind him and snapped his neck, rendering him unconscious.

"That felt way to good" Damon mumbled.

***

Both Marty and Kol's body laid in a motel room, Aria walked over to Kol who was still in Mary's body, she grabbed his hand in hers.

"I'm going to bring you back to where you belong" Aria promised.

"The pills stop your magic" Kol reminded.

"I haven't had any pills today" Aria assured, "It's not fully back, but my magic is here, I can bring you back".

"It's not going to be easy" Kol whispered.

"I know" Aria whispered, "But I can't have you die on me, not like this".

The motel door opened and Damon walked into the room, "Snagged this from the front desk in case we have to restart Marty's ticker" he informed, he then looked at Aria in worry, "Are you sure you can do this?".

"I have to" Aria stated.

Aria then grabbed Marty and Kol's hand, and then she started chanting, as she was chanting, she ended up in Kol's head.

Kol gasped and sat up, looking around he realised he was on the couch of his and Aria's shared home.

"I brought a drink" Aria announced, entering the room.

"Ri, what's going on?" a confused Kol asked.

"What do you mean?" Aria asked, sitting next to Kol, "We're home, Kol".

Realisation drew on Kol, "You're in my head".

"Yeap" Aria confirmed.

"Why?" Kol asked.

Aria shrugged, "I don't know, I guess it felt right and I really wanted to see you in your body and not Marty's".

"Fair enough" Kol said, "Do I even ask what you're doing out there?".

"You can ask" Aria assured, "And I'll tell you that you don't have to worry, you're going to be just fine".

Kol narrowed his eyes at Aria, "You're not lying to me, are you?" he asked, "Because if I'm dying in that drunk Marty's body, I'd really like to know so I can make the most out of my last moments with you".

"Why are you so negative?" Aria asked, just as her nose suddenly bleeding.

"Ri?" a concerned Kol said, seeing the blood.

In the real world, as Aria was chanting, she suddenly fell to the floor in weakness.

"Aria!" a worried Damon called out, rushing over to Aria and helping her, that's when his eyes landed on the blood, "You need to stop Aria, you're not strong enough".

"I am" Aria whispered, "I am strong enough".

Back in Kol's head, Kol shook his head, "Dammit Ri, why aren't you stopping?!" he asked, "The pills have made you weak, you shouldn't be doing this".

Aria gave Kol a sad smile, "Kol I think something's already happening to me, I think either way I'm dying, so why not die saving you?".

"What the hell are you saying, Ri?" a extremely concerned Kol asked.

Aria groaned in pain, Kol quickly steadied her, "Enzo and you have lately been so concerned about me, it didn't take long for me to figure it out" she whispered.

"I didn't tell you anything because it's not true" Kol stated, "Enzo heard these stupid rumors about the pills, but the rumors aren't true, you're going to be fine, but right now, I need you stop this spell".

A stubborn Aria shook her head, "I can't" she whispered, "You need to come back to me".

"Dammit Ria, stop the damn spell!" Kol yelled, but Aria didn't listen.

In the real word, Kol's body gasped and woke up, making both Damon and Aria look at him, wondering if this was Kol or Ambrose.

"Kol?" Aria asked.

Kol nodded his head in confirmation, "It's me" he assured, "It's me, Ri".

Aria let out an emotion chuckle, she then lunged forward and hugged Kol with everything she had, who gladly hugged her back, while Damon stood to the side watching the two with a sad smile on his face.

***

Kol stepped out of the motel, that's when his eyes landed on Damon who was putting his things in his car boot.

"Running away again?" Kol asked.

Damon looked at Kol, "Figured I'd leave that decision to Aria and you, speaking of Aria, where is she?".

"She's resting, the spell took a lot from her" Kol said.

Damon nodded his head in understanding, he then looked at Kol, "She keeps saying that she's dying, is she?".

Kol sighed, "When Enzo and I first found those pills, neither of us knew what they were going to do to her, all we knew was that they were going to stop the armory from tracking her, from forcing her to open a vault that her mother shut".

"But the pills did more then stop the armory from finding her, didn't they?" Damon asked.

Kol nodded, "Enzo recently found out that the armory was experimenting on Mary Louise, for the past five years they were constantly forcing her to take these pills because of which she became really sick, these pills aren't helping Aria, they are killing all three parts of her, the vampire, the banshee and the witch, which is why you can't leave Damon, not yet anyways, Aria needs you".

"After this information, even if you told me to leave, I wouldn't leave" Damon stated, "Not until we save Aria".

"She's always saved us, and now she needs saving" Kol said.

"And that's exactly what we will do" Damon assured.

***

Presenting 7x18 of Cold Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Aria organizing an ambulance to help Kol?

Thoughts on Damon and Aria's argument?

Thoughts on Aria eventually telling Damon the triplets and everything else he missed out on?

Thoughts on Aria managing to put Kol back into his body?

Thoughts on Kol and Damon deciding to team up to save Aria?