15. I Would For You

"Look whose finally up from her beauty sleep" Kol teased, entering Aria's hospital room and seeing her get off a video call with Caroline.

"Yeap, finally" Aria said, as Kol handed her some hot chocolate, "How did you know I was craving this?".

"Because I know you" Kol said simply, taking a seat on the stool by Aria's bed.

Aria chuckled, "Yes you do" she said, taking a small sip of her hot chocolate.

"So, were you talking to Caroline just now?" Kol asked.

Aria nodded, "Nik and Caroline took the twins and the triplets to New Orleans till we take care of this Rayna mess, I was checking to make sure everything was okay and see my babies".

Kol nodded in understanding, "By the way, how's your magic?".

"Still not hundred precent back, but--", Aria looked at the metal tray by the front of her bed, she lifted her hand and a scalpel flew right into it, "It's not gone either".

"Nice" Kol commented.

Aria smiled at Kol, she then looked at her hands, more specifically her engagement ring, "Is he gone?".

Kol sighed, "Yeah" he whispered, not needing Aria to say a name for him to know who she was talking about.

Aria looked at Kol, "Have any idea where to?".

"Well, after giving you his blood to make the healing process a bit faster, he left saying he had a plan to kill Rayna" Kol informed.

"And let me guess, he told you nothing because he doesn't want either of us interfering" Aria concluded.

"Yeah" Kol said, "According to him and I quote, this is a Damon only show, it's Damon versus Rayna".

"That's going to send him right back to hell" a frustrated Aria said, shaking her head at Damon's stubbornness, "I mean, he doesn't even know how to kill her, none of us do, and what happens if before he kills her, she kills him?", Aria's phone ringing stopped her ranting session, looking down at her phone, a smile formed on her face, she then looked towards Kol and waved her phone, "But there is someone who might know how to end this once and for all".

"Nope" Kol said, immediately hating Aria's idea, "Let's not go there Ri, for my sanity, keep him away from him".

"Enzo's been calling me a lot" Aria informed, "I've been ignoring his calls because I have a feeling in his own way he wants to apologise and frankly I didn't want to hear it, until now, Kol if I go back to that creepy place, there's a chance we might find out more info about this huntress, maybe then we'd know how to kill her".

Before Aria could answer her phone, Kol snatched it from her hand, "Are you insane?" he asked, "You literally just woke up and you want to go back to the place that caused you pain, when are you going to stop putting yourself in the fire line for Damon?".

Aria looked at Kol in confusion, "What's with the harsh tone?" she asked, never seen Kol like this before.

"Ri, please for the love god, just stay put, for once stay out of it" Kol pleaded, ignoring Aria's question, even he didn't know why he was suddenly feeling like this, he just knew he couldn't get the phoenix stone and Tyler's word out of his head.

"I can't do that Kol" Aria said, "You know I can't".

"But you can" Kol retorted, "For once you can stay put, for once this isn't your fight".

"How can you say that?!" Aria snapped, glaring at Kol, "Damon is in danger, so of course this is my fight, you can either support me in this or I will do this alone".

"For once can you not be stubborn?" Kol begged.

"Nope" Aria replied, "I don't know how to do that".

"For gods sake Ri, how are you still alive? Just tell me your bloody plan" Kol said finally giving in, he knew if he refused then Aria would just do whatever she wants by herself, at least if he's with her, he will be able to make sure she doesn't get hurt.

***

"Still hate this idea" Kol said, as him and Aria stood in Armory.

"You saying the same thing two thousand times, isn't going to suddenly change this idea" Aria retorted.

"You know, I really hope the triplets don't have your stubbornness when they grow up because then god help everyone who cares for them, because just like their mother, they will be trouble magnets" Kol said.

"I'm not a trouble magnet, I just don't run from a fight" Aria argued.

"Sometimes for the sake of my sanity, and your life, learn how to run from a fight" Kol argued back.

Aria opened her mouth to say something else to Kol, when suddenly the door opened and Enzo entered the room, "You two actually came, I'm shocked" he said.

"Rebekah got the sorry gift you send her all the way in Dallas" Aria informed, "Next time, try something more then just flowers and chocolates".

"Why are you even sending my sister sorry gifts?" an annoyed Kol asked, "You screwed Ri over not her".

"Because ever since I missed her baby shower, she has been sending me very threatening messages" Enzo informed.

"Sounds like the Rebekah we all know and love" Aria said, "Now, why did you want us here? But before you answer that, let me warn you, next time you try to disable my magic, I will chop you into little pieces and feed it to my dog that I will specially adopt to feed you to him".

Kol looked Aria, clearly impressed, "Nice going" he whispered.

Aria gave Kol a smile, "Thank you" she whispered back.

Enzo rolled his eyes at the duo, "Clearly Damon and Kol's obscenity is rubbing off on you" he told Aria, "It's quite pathetic, really, you know, you following both of them around like some high school groupie, actually you know what, I get why you keep Kol around, he never walked away from you, but why I don't get is why you keep going back to Damon, a person who never learns from his mistakes".

Aria narrowed her eyes at the vampire infront of her, "Don't tempt me Enzo, I'm at my last nerve with you, say something else and I swear to god, I will rip your heart out and feed it to you".

Before Enzo could say anything to Aria, the door once again opened and this time came out a women neither Aria or Kol had seen before.

"Lorenzo" the mystery woman called out, her eyes landed on Aria and suddenly a huge smile came on her face, Kol, not liking the smile, immediately stood next to Aria, ready to kill this new person if she was a threat, "You must be Aria Connor, the tribrid" the woman said, walking over to the trio, "I'm Alex St. John, welcome to the Armory".

"Oh look, you found your family" Aria realised, looking at Enzo, "Does she have a habit of betraying her friends like you? Like is a blood thing?".

Alex sighed, "I'm sorry for Enzo's behavior yesterday" she apologised, "He wasn't following proper protocol, I asked him to call you back here, we might have gotten off on the wrong foot".

"Yeah no offense Alex, but I don't accept your apology, after yesterday, I don't think I'm ever going to trust at St. John again" Aria said, glaring at Enzo.

"I apologised" Enzo defended.

"No, you sent my sister flowers and chocolates and Ri to the ER" Kol retorted.

"That was Tyler" Enzo defended.

"If you hadn't lured Damon here, Ri would never had come face to face with Tyler" Kol snapped.

"Rayna Cruz is a common enemy" Alex interrupted both Kol and Enzo's argument, while Aria tried not to laugh, "We should be working together to fight her".

"Yeah but slight problem with that, from what I've been told, you guys don't want to fight Rayna, you want to capture her" Aria said, "So let's start spilling what you know about her, because the more secrets you keep the more angry I get and if you don't know, then let me tell you, making a tribrid angry, not a smart move".

Alex smirked at Aria, "Fair" she said, "Why don't you come with me?".

Alex turned around and started walking back towards the door she came in from, Enzo with his hand gestured for Kol and Aria to follow, who after exchanging a skeptical look, followed Alex further into the Armory.

"This room contains everything the Armory has gathered on Rayna Cruz" Alex informed, leading Aria and Kol into a room, "A list of victims, her lineage, the spell used to create her, and most importantly, the Shamans that gave their lives for her, the eight everlastings".

Aria looked at the eight coffins placed infront of her, "It's actually two everlastings" she corrected, realising while the other bodies were decaying, only two bodies remained intact.

"Yeah, the other six everlasting look bloody horrendous" Kol said.

"There should be three preserved corpses" a confused Alex said, realisation suddenly drew on her, she looked towards a shocked Enzo, "We lost another one? Did you know about this? Why wasn't I told?".

"It must have just happened" Enzo defended.

"Well we clearly knows who wears the pants in this relationship" an amused Kol whispered into Aria's ear, causing her to elbow him in the stomach.

"They're family" Aria reminded.

"We don't know how they roll" Kol defended, as an frustrated Alex walked out of the room to find out what was happening.

Aria looked at Enzo, "From your new family's reaction, I'm assuming losing a preserved corpse is a bad thing?" she asked.

"Every time Rayna dies, one of the bodies decays" Enzo informed, "We've lost quite a few this past week, and if we lose all of them, Rayna dies for good".

Aria smirked, she and Kol looked towards each other and realised them losing another preserved body today meant Damon had Rayna and he was killing her, meaning he was a step closer to freedom and they were a step closer to getting rid of the huntress.

***

After Kol sent Damon a text, informing him about Rayna having two lives left, him, Aria and Enzo watched as another preserved corpse decayed right infront of them.

Enzo turned towards Aria and Kol and looked at them in suspicion, "You have five seconds to tell me exactly what's happening or you're not leaving here alive" he threatened.

"You can't kill me" Kol said, giving Enzo a taunting smile.

"And he won't let you near me, he's on extra protective mode today" Aria informed, patting Kol's shoulder, "Not that I need his protection, I can take you, the only time you had a upper hand on me was when you stabbed me in my back".

"Literally" Kol added.

"Not figurately" Aria finished.

"What did you do?" a frustrated Enzo asked.

"We didn't do anything, we have been here with you haven't we?" Aria retorted.

"Yeah but Damon on the other, might have done something" Kol informed.

"Damon is an idiot" Enzo snapped.

"And why's that?" Aria snapped back, "Because he's finally getting rid of the huntress you couldn't?".

"No, because every time Rayna dies, she comes back stronger" Enzo revealed.

"Except for when she dies one last time" Aria said, "That time she won't come back stronger, she will just be dead, and tell me something, why the hell would we keep such a dangerous person alive?".

"You know, I wouldn't worry about that, I'd worry about this" Enzo said, walking over to the bookshelf, he grabbed a book that was already opened and placed on a stand, he placed it on a table and pointed toward a page, "This is the spell those Shamans used to create her".

"Okay, so?" Kol asked.

"Just read it" Enzo demanded.

Aria stepped forward and started reading, after taking a moment and reading everything she looked at Enzo in shock, not believing what she just read, "Rayna's sword has linking magic in it" she whispered, "Whoever Rayna stabs, it creates a bond between them and Rayna".

"The Shamans didn't want her going to her eternal rest with any unfinished business" Enzo continued, "So they added an extra addendum",

"The scars on Rayna's victims are a failsafe, if Rayna dies permanently so does anyone she's marked" Aria finished.

"Damon has one of those scares, doesn't he?" Enzo asked.

"If Damon kills Rayna, he's going to die with her" Kol realised.

"Bingo" Enzo said.

***

Aria tried numerous times to get Damon on the phone, but when he refused to answer any of her calls, she asked Kol to call him, and to no one's surprise Damon answered Kol's phone.

"First of all, you're a dick" Kol said, looking at Aria's hurt face once she realised that Damon was only avoiding her, "Second of all, where the bloody hell is Rayna?".

"In a moderately shallow grave" Damon informed, "You know, I got tired of digging, but it should do the trick".

"You need to dig her back up, Damon" Kol said.

"No way" Damon protested, "She'll flame to life underground, suffocate, boof, final life over, huntress problem solved".

An annoyed Aria walked over to Kol and snatched his phone, "Listen here you stubborn asshole, Damon Salvatore, you need to get Rayna out of that grave, she can't die again".

"Pardon me" a confused Damon said, not knowing what was going on.

"The scar on your chest has linked you to her" Aria informed, "As soon Rayna dies forever, so do you Damon".

***

"What the hell are you doing?" a confused Enzo asked Aria, as she started going through various of the Armoy's books on Rayna Cruz.

"According to you everytime Rayna comes back she gets stronger" Aria reminded, "Which means as soon as Damon digs her up, he's not going get the opportunity to run, Rayna's going to kill him before that and I can't have that".

"The Armory is on their way to Mystic Falls" Enzo assured, "They'll be there soon".

"Before your stupid Armory reaches Rayna, she's going to kill the father of my children" Aria snapped, going through a book.

"Ri, what are you hoping to find in these books?" a confused Kol asked.

"Rayna is linked to an everlasting, there has to be a way in which I can use my magic to weaken the everlastings which should also weaken her" Aria replied.

"And maybe that will kill her, and Damon too" Enzo suggested.

"If I sit here hand in hand then Damon's dead anyways" Aria snapped.

"You're willing to kill for him?" Enzo asked, "Do you really think he cares that much about you?".

"Okay, I have had it with people judging mine and Damon's relationship" Aria said, glaring at Enzo, "If you don't understand us, then that's fine, but you have no right to judge us".

"You have no idea what he's planning" Enzo realised.

"Enzo" Kol warned.

Enzo looked at Kol, "You still haven't told her?" he asked.

"She was in the hospital and then we got roped into this, I didn't exactly have the time to tell her" Kol defended.

Aria looked between Kol and Enzo in confusion, "What's going?" she asked, fear rising in her heart, "What the hell is Damon about to do?".

"Enzo don't" Kol said, "Let Damon tell her this".

"Damon isn't going to tell her anything" Enzo retorted, "He won't be able to face her, we both know this Kol".

"Tell me what?!" an angry Aria asked, "What the hell is going on here?!".

"Damon is planning to walk away from you and your kids" Enzo revealed, "He's planning to leave and never show you his face again".

Aria looked at Enzo in shock, she looked at Kol wanting to know if it was true or not, and the expression on his face was enough to tell her that everything Enzo said was true, Damon was walking away from her, he was walking away from their family, once again.

***

After Enzo's revelation, a heartbroken and furious Aria left the Armory and Kol quickly followed, wanting to make sure she doesn't do anything stupid in her anger.

"Thanks" Alex said, walking to the room where only Enzo stood, "Rayna is officially in captivity", she then looked around and frowned not seeing Aria in the room, "Where's the tribrid?".

"Learning how little her soulmate cares about her" Enzo informed.

"I don't recall telling you to let her go" Alex said.

"Well, I thought we needed her help with Rayna" a confused Enzo defended.

"Yes, Rayna was the first priority" Alex confirmed, "Aria Connor is a close second".

***

After the Armory took Rayna, Damon knew it was time to do the one thing he never wanted to do, leave Aria. Damon got into his car and drove towards the border of Mystic Falls, the further he got from Aria, the more the pain in his heart increased but Damon kept driving, repeating to himself that if he stayed, Aria and his kids will never be safe, because of him something or the other will always try to harm them, he needed to get out of their lives for their safety.

As Damon reached closer to the Mystic Falls border, he suddenly slammed his brakes when Aria appeared infront of his car.

"Are you insane?!" a furious Damon asked, stepping out his car, "I could have hit you!".

"You're leaving me again" Aria whispered, looking at Damon with teary eyes, "Once again you're walking away from our family, at first when Enzo told me this I didn't believe him but the fact that you're driving out of Mystic Falls proves that he was right, you know I thought after what happened last time, you will never walk away from us again" Aria scoffed, "But guess I was wrong".

"Ria--".

"Don't" a furious Aria interrupted, "Don't call me Ria, you don't deserve to call me that, tell me something Damon, do you even love me?".

"Don't doubt my love for you" Damon snapped.

"I'm not the only one whose doubting your love, Damon!" Aria yelled, "Everyone is! If you love me, why are you walking away from me?! Why are you walking away from our family?!".

"I'm trying to keep you safe, Aria?!" Damon defended, "I've always put you in danger, I'm trying to do the right thing for once in my life!".

"This isn't the right thing" Aria argued, "This is you taking the cowards way out Damon, you are running away, nothing you say is ever going to justify this, you say you're doing this for my safety, but I don't want you to do this, Damon every time I'm in danger it's because of me, not you, everytime danger has touched me, you've saved me", Aria stepped out of Damon's cars way, "You have two options here Damon, stay and be a father to our kids, or walk away and I swear I will make you sure never see our kids ever again, if you leave Damon never come back, because I will never want to see your face again".

For a moment, both Aria and Damon stood there, both having tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry" Damon said after a moment, "But this is for the good of everyone".

Aria looked at the floor, with tears now streaming down her face, she didn't look towards Damon but she heard him walk back into his car, he revved the engine and for a moment he didn't move, making a small amount of hope rise in her heart, but that heart diminished when Damon drove away from her.

Aria finally looked up and watched as Damon drove further and further away from her, as Damon's car left her eyesight, Aria fell to the ground on her knees, sobbing loudly.

***

"Ri, stop!" Kol yelled, entering Damon and Aria's old room and seeing Aria destroy the whole room with her magic.

"No!" Aria yelled, using her magic to smash the mirror, "I hate him Kol, I hate him so much!".

"Ri, stop!" Kol snapped, grabbing Aria's wrist, "You're going to hurt yourself".

Aria looked at Kol, "Why does he always do this to me?" she whispered, "Why does he always walk away from me?'.

"He thought he was doing the right thing this time" Kol said, pulling Aria into a hug.

"This wasn't the right thing!" Aria yelled, pushing Kol away from him, "This was the wrong thing! He can't keep doing this and I can't keep forgiving him!".

"Ri listen--".

"No!" Aria yelled, she looked at her hand that still had her engagement ring, "It's over Kol, everything is over, Damon and Aria are done, and this time it's forever".

And before Kol could stop her Aria had taken the engagement ring off and let it fall to the ground.

Aria then fell to the floor sobbing, Kol kneeled down and pulled Aria into hug.

"Take me away" Aria cried, clutching Kol's shirt in her fist, "You promised to take me away from here Kol, take me and my kids away from this town, take me away from his memories otherwise I will die, please Kol, take me away".

"Shh" Kol whispered, running his hand through a hysterical Aria's hair, "I'll take you away, I'll take you and the kids away from here and start new somewhere else".

Aria didn't say anything, just kept crying and Kol let her knowing this is what she needed.

***

Five Years Later, Dallas, Texas

While Damon was outside impatiently waiting for Kol to rescue Aria and come out, a vervain dart was shot in his back curtsey of Matt Donovan, who was working with Rayna Cruz.

"You should be ashamed of yourself" Kol said, as he and Damon sat on their respective chairs, both the vampires tied up with vervain ropes, "You got captured by Matt Donovan".

"I didn't know he was here" Damon defended, trying to get out of the ropes but failing.

"Ah" Rayna said, walking infront of the two tied up vampires, "I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted, feel like there should be champagne or something".

"Congrats, after five years you finally got me" Damon said sarcastically.

"I'm totally not taking credit by the way" Rayna said, "You came to me, you were safe, in the wind, you played it smart, then you got dumb on me, what happened? I mean, okay, we know what happened, I took someone that you love, someone who hates your guys and is engaged to someone else, but you still aren't over".

Kol looked at Damon, who was glaring at Rayna, he refused to look towards Kol.

"Well, what a sight this is".

Both Damon and Kol looked towards the studio entrance and both of then saw Aria enter the room. For a second Damon froze, this was the first time he had seen Aria since the night he had driven away from her, and to this date, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't forget her, he couldn't move on from her.

"About time you got here" Rayna said, smirking seeing Aria, "Honestly, I expected you to get here faster".

Aria rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting my hands and legs were tied up" she said, Aria then looked towards Kol, she refused to look towards Damon, "Are you okay?".

"Slightly delicious from the werewolf venom but I'm okay" Kol assured, both him and Damon not missing the fact that Aria didn't look towards Damon even once.

Aria nodded, she then looked back at Rayna, "So, how are we going to do this?" she asked, "Fight to the death or first one to get the other unconscious?".

"No fighting will be necessary" Rayna assured, "I'm not here to fight, I'm here to give you an option".

Aria looked at Rayna in confusion, "What option?".

"Believe it or not Aria, but I like you, I like your bravery and your will to die for the people you love, so what if I were to tell you there was a way for me to transfer the mark on your soulmate to someone else, say Kol" Rayna informed, shocking the trio, "You have to pick Aria, whose soul do you want me to send back into that stone, Damon's or Kol's? Your ex-fiance or your current?".

***

Presenting 7x15 of Cold Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Kol being extra protective over Aria?

Thoughts on Kol and Aria finding out that if Rayna does so does Damon?

Thoughts on Enzo telling Aria about Damon leaving?

Thoughts on Rayna asking Aria to choose between Kol and Damon for the mark?