10. The Sacrifice

Elena opened the front door of her house to see Stefan, Damon and Aria standing there.

"Hi, uh, can we talk?" Stefan asked.

"Why?" Elena asked confused.

"They went to see Katherine" Aria replied.

"Come on in" Elena said, letting the trio in to her house.

***

"You don't believe her, do you?" Elena asked the Salvatore brothers, after they told her about their interaction with Katherine, how she said that once they let her free, not only will she hand the moonstone over but will also leave Mystic Falls forever.

"I asked the same thing" Aria replied.

"No, of course not, we just want the moonstone" Damon said.

"According to Rose's friend Slater, there's a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break" Stefan said.

"No spell, no doppelganger sacrifice, no Connor witch channeling, ergo, you and Aria live" Damon said.

"How do you destroy it?" Elena asked curiously.

"By releasing the spell from the moonstone" Aria replied, having already been filled in.

"How do you guys even know this is gonna work?" Elena asked, still very apprehensive.

"Because we have two crafty witches on our side" Damon replied.

"You discussed it with Bonnie and Aria" Elena realised.

"And both me and Bonnie agreed to do whatever it takes to help" Aria replied.

"It's Katherine who has the moonstone" Elena reminded, "She's not gonna give it you".

"We're gonna get it from her" Stefan assured.

"Well, what he means to say, is that we will pry it from her cold dead hand if we have to" Damon said.

"Bonnie and Aria just need to find a way to release the seal long enough, for us to get in, get the moonstone, and get out in time for them to return it" Stefan explained.

"Wow, I mean it sounds like you guys have it all planned out" Elena said.

"Yeah" Aria agreed, "And it's a pretty solid plan".

"Except for one thing" Elena said, "I don't want you to do it".

"Excuse me?" Aria asked, not sure if she heard Elena right.

"What are you talking about Elena, we don't have a choice" Stefan said.

"What about Klaus?" Elena asked.

"We'll find him right after we get the moonstone" Stefan replied.

"Is that before or after he kills everyone that I care about, including the three of you?" Elena snapped.

"There's a chance I'm already dying Elena, so I'm going to risk it, cause unlike you, I don't have a martyr complex" Aria snapped, "I'm not dying, I can't die, specially not in a stupid sacrifice".

"Elena, if we can de-spell the moonstone, we can save Aria and your life" Stefan said, not understanding why Elena was being so difficult.

"I know, everybody keeps saying that" Elena snapped.

"What?" Aria asked angrily, "You don't want to be saved now? You might be ready to die for a stranger, but I'm not Elena, I have a lot I have to do in my life, I can't die this easily".

"Despite knowing that Klaus will kill everyone you care about if you try anything funny?" Elena asked, equally as angry.

"Klaus won't harm the people I care about" Aria snapped.

"And how are you so sure?" Elena asked.

"I'm not!" Aria yelled, "I'm not sure about anything Elena, except about the fact that I want to live, so please, I beg, don't be the reason as to why I die".

Without hearing anything else from Elena, Aria walked out of the kitchen, furious.

Damon glared at Elena, he could see history repeating itself once again, once again a Petrova doppelganger was screwing over a Connor witch, but this time, Damon wasn't going to let Aria suffer, if it came down to it, Damon would gladly hand Elena over to Klaus, if it meant Aria would be with him safe and sound.

***

Damon and Stefan had gone to talk to Bonnie, so Aria decided to head back to the Salvatore Boarding House, and was now ranting to Rose about how difficult Elena was being, when suddenly both the girls heard the front door open.

"Looks like lover boy is back" Rose teased.

Aria laughed, "I'll go check".

"I'll come with you" Rose said.

Aria and Rose stood up and went to check who entered the house, and to their shock, it wasn't Damon, it was Elena.

"What, back for more fighting?" Aria asked.

"I came here to talk to Rose and you" Elena revealed, confusing Aria and Rose, who didn't know why Elena would want to talk to Rose.

"Well, we should probably take this to the living room" Rose said.

***

"It's a bad idea" Rose said, pacing back and forth.

"No, it's not" Elena argued back, "From what Stefan told me, your friend Slater obviously has more information about Klaus, you, Damon and Aria gave up before you got it".

"Oh I'm sorry we didn't continue hunting for Klaus, after we nearly got blown up" Aria snapped.

"There's more to learn Aria, we just have to find a way to learn it" Elena said.

"Why are you coming to me with this?" Rose asked confused.

"Because you owe me" Elena replied, "One word from me, and Damon and Stefan could have killed you for kidnapping me and Aria".

"As if I would have let them" Aria said, "She doesn't owe you anything Elena, you've done nothing for her".

"Or maybe it's because you know that they wouldn't want you doing this" Rose realised, "And we both don't want to know Damon's reaction when he finds out you dragged Aria into this".

"And them trying to get the moonstone gave you a chance to sneak away and drag me into this" Aria said.

"We're having a disagreement, okay?" Elena snapped, ignoring Aria's angry glare, "They're willing to risk everyone that I love, and I'm not".

"Do you think that makes you some kind of hero?" Aria snapped, "No Elena, it makes you a coward, you're taking the easy way out without even fighting for a second, and unlike you, Stefan and Damon aren't cowards, they are fighting for the lives of the girls they love, and you and me both know, for a second I might stop fighting, but they won't".

"What exactly do you hope to achieve by this?" Rose asked Elena, cutting Aria and Elena's argument.

"How would you like to be able to walk during the daylight?" Elena asked.

Aria started laughing hearing Elena's words, confusing her, "Try something else Elena, already gave Rose a daylight ring".

Elena looked down at Rose's hand and saw the daylight ring Aria had made for her.

"Aria, this could be our chance to find more about this curse, don't you want to know more about it?" Elena asked.

Aria paused, the truth was, Aria wanted to know everything about the curse, she wanted to know why does this curse break with someone from the Petrova and Connor Bloodline, she wanted to know who made this curse, she had so many questions and she knew this trip to Slater might just answer her never ending questions.

Aria sighed, "Fine, let's go".

***

Elena, Aria and Rose arrived at Slater's residence, Rose knocked on the door.

"Slater!" Rose yelled, "Slater, it's Rose, open up", Rose turned to Elena, "He's not home, sorry".

"Mm-mm, no" Elena said, "We didn't come all the way out here for nothing".

"Rose, move out of the way" Aria said.

Rose nodded and moved out of Aria's way, Aria stood infront of the door and extended her arms, and after a second the door flew open.

"Cool" Rose said, smiling at Aria.

"Thank you" Aria said smiling, "After you both".

The trio entered the apartment and started looking around for Slater.

"Slater!" Rose yelled, walking further into the apartment, suddenly Rose's eyes landed on something, something that shocked her, "I don't think he's gonna be much help".

Aria and Elena ran to where Rose was standing and they were shocked seeing Slater on the ground, with a stake through his heart.

Rose walked over to the dead body and started dragging it away, while Aria and Elena walked over to Slater's computer set up.

"Looks like whoever blew up the coffee shop found him and killed him for his information" Elena said, as her and Aria started looking through all of Slater's papers.

"Yeah, probably to stop him from helping people like us" Rose said, "The guy was a vampire almanac, knowing too much information just bit him in the ass".

Rose walked over to Slater's window and opened the curtains and stared out at the world.

"Rose, I'm sorry about Slater" Aria said genuinely.

"Any luck?" Rose asked, avoiding talking about Slater.

"Um--", Elena tried to enter Slater's computer, but failed as she needed a password, "It's password protected, I can't get in".

"Then this is pointless, let's just go" Rose said.

Suddenly the trio heard something fall in then room behind them, shocking all three of them, as they thought they were alone here, turns out they were wrong.

"Stay here" Rose ordered the girls.

Rose opened the door to the room, and saw a young girl standing there, "Alice?".

"Rose" Alice cried, running into Rose's arms, "He's dead".

***

Aria and Elena were in Slater's kitchen, making tea for a hysterical Alice, while Rose was busy comforting her.

"She found him a few minutes before we did" Rose informed, walking over to the duo.

"How is she?" Elena asked.

"Overreacting, bigtime" Rose replied.

"Rose, she just found her boyfriend dead on the floor, I don't think she's overreacting" Aria said.

"Those tears are for her, she didn't care about Slater" Rose said, "She was only dating him long enough to see if he'd turn her".

"What a bitch" Aria said, as Elena grabbed a cup of tea and went over to Alice.

"Thank you" Alice said, grabbing the cup from Elena, Alice looked between Elena and Aria, "Both of you look really familiar, did you guys know Slater?".

"Not personally, no" Elena answered, "We just knew that he kept detailed records of all of his vampire contacts and I was hoping that he could point us towards Klaus".

"Doubtful, Klaus doesn't wanna be pointed out" Alice said.

"Do you know Slater's computer password?" Aria asked, getting fed up of the small talk.

"Are you seriously asking me that right now?" Alice asked outraged, "I just saw my boyfriend with a stake through his heart".

"A boyfriend you didn't really love" Aria snapped, "So do you know his password or not?".

"Who do you think you are?" Alice asked, glaring at Aria.

"I'm Aria, wish I could say it was nice to meet you" Aria introduced, really not liking Alice.

"What if I could convince Rose to turn you?" Elena asked, stopping the argument between Alice and Aria, and catching Alice's attention, "Will you show us his files then?".

"Someone's been here, hard drive's completely wiped out" Alice said, looking at Slater's computer.

"Yeah, probably whoever killed him" Rose said.

"Lucky for you, Slater was paranoid" Alice said, "Everything's backed up on our remote server".

"You know that she's not going anywhere near my blood, right?" Rose whispered to Elena, while Alice was busy reviving everything.

"I know" Elena assured, "She's doesn't".

"I'm still pissed at you, but that was a genius move, I must give it to you" Aria whispered to Elena.

Elena smiled at Aria and walked over to Alice.

"Kristen Stewart" Alice read, "God, was he obvious?".

"These are all lead to vampires?" Elena asked.

"Slater was obsessed" Alice replied, "Almost as much as me".

"What about that one? Cody Webber" Rose read out, "They exchanged dozens of emails about Elijah".

"I could call him" Alice suggested.

"Tell him that we're trying to send a message to Klaus" Elena said, handing Alice her phone, "The doppelganger and Connor witch are alive, and both of them are ready to surrender".

"What?" Aria and Rose asked shocked, while Elena avoided eye contact with Aria, knowing she broke her trust, something that was very important to Aria.

"Oh, my god, I knew I recognised you both" Alice said excitedly.

"Get him the message, please" Elena demanded, walking away.

A furious Aria followed her, "What the hell do you think you're doing?".

"I'm getting Klaus's attention" Elena replied.

"Elena, if Klaus finds out we both exist, his going to kill us" Aria snapped, suddenly realisation drawn on her, "Which is what you wanted all along, you lied to me when you said you just wanted information, and I like an idiot believed you".

"Aria, it's either us, or our family" Elena said, trying to justify herself.

"How selfish are you Elena!?" Aria yelled, catching Elena off guard, "You think me and you dying would save everyone, yeah it might save them from Klaus, but it won't save them from the emotional pain they will have to go through, Jeremy already lost his parents and now he will also lose his sister, Jenna would lose us, Caroline and Bonnie will lose their best friends, Stefan and Damon will lose the girls they love, did you stop and think about the consequence of your stupid suicide mission".

"Aria--".

"Cody is on his way" Alice said, walking over to the duo, "And he really wants to meet you both".

Aria glared at Elena, "Hope your happy Elena, your suicide mission, the one you falsely dragged me into, worked, but just remember Elena, if we survive this, you have lost my trust forever, I will never be able to trust you with anything, funny how the person who I once trusted with my life, is now the one whose pushing me towards my death".

***

"Sorry I'm late, I had to grab the Grimoire from home" Bonnie said, walking over to the Salvatore brothers, just as they were about to enter the tomb to retrieve the moonstone from Katherine.

"Jeremy couldn't take the pressure, huh?" Damon mocked, when he realised the youngest Gilbert wasn't with Bonnie.

"He said he'd be here" Bonnie defended.

As the trio proceeded to go inside the tomb, Damon's phone started ringing, realising it was Aria, Damon stayed back to speak to her.

"How's bonding with Elena going?" Damon asked.

Aria knew if she told Damon that her, Elena and Rose were going to Slater to find more information on Klaus, Damon wouldn't let her go, so she lied saying her and Elena were spending the day trying to repair their broken bond, something she now regretted saying.

"Damon" Aria cried.

"Ria" Damon said, suddenly worried hearing Aria cry, "Why are you crying, is everything okay, did Elena do something?".

"Damon, please come to Richmond, please save me" Aria cried, "I don't want to die".

"Ria, what's going on, what are you doing in Richmond?" Damon asked, extremely confused.

"Damon, Elena's going to hand herself and me over to Klaus, and I don't know if I can stop her" Aria informed, shocking Damon.

***

Elena was in Slater's living room, waiting for Cody to come and take her and Aria to Klaus, she turned around to see where Aria had disappeared to, when suddenly she came face to face with a furious Damon.

"How dare you?" Damon asked angrily.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked, she could tell Damon was extremely angry at her, which meant he knew what she was doing here.

"Damon" Aria said, running into Damon's arms, "You came, you actually came".

"Of course I came" Damon said, wrapping his arms tightly around Aria, "I told you I'm not going to let anything happen to you".

"You called him?" Elena asked Aria.

"Of course I called him" Aria replied, breaking the hug, "I told you, I'm not dying because of you".

"Damon Salvatore" Alice said excitedly.

"Get rid of her" Damon told Rose.

"No way" Alice said, as Rose dragged her away.

"Come on, we're leaving" Damon said.

"No" Elena denied.

"I said we're leaving" Damon repeated, his patience with Elena running thin.

"Take Aria, but I'm not going with you" Elena said.

Damon glared at Elena, and before Aria and Elena could register, Damon had wrapped his hand around Elena's neck and slammed her to the nearest wall.

"Damon!" Aria yelled shocked.

"You are lucky I haven't ripped your heart out for trying to hand Aria over to Klaus" Damon said furiously, "Don't test my patience, cause I will gladly kill you, and I don't care if Stefan and Aria will hate me for the rest of their life, at least it will mean Aria's safe from you", Damon let go of Elena, who as soon as Damon freed, fell into a coughing fit, "You do not get to make decisions anymore".

"When have I ever made a decision? You and Stefan do that for me" Elena snapped, "Now, this, this is my decision".

Damon scoffed, "You know for a second I thought you were different, I thought maybe this time history won't repeat itself, but I was wrong".

"What?" Elena asked confused.

"In the past, a Petrova doppelganger screwed over a Connor witch, I was hoping you won't do that, but turns out, you're exactly like Katherine" Damon spat, "Once again, a Petrova doppelganger is going to cost a Connor witch her life".

"If pushing myself and Aria infront of death, means that every single person that I love gets saved, then I will do it Damon, not once, but over and over again" Elena spat, making Aria look at her with teary eyes.

"Get your ass out the door before I throw you out of this building" Damon threatened, "I am not putting Aria in danger because of you Elena".

Elena glared at Damon and made no movement in listening to him, so Damon grabbed her arm, "No" Elena said, struggling in Damon's grip.

Elena went to punch Damon, but he held her hand, "Don't ever do that again" Damon warned, holding Elena's hand tightly, causing her immense pain, but Damon didn't care, he was furious that Elena was about to hand the girl he loves over to her death.

***

"Time to go" Damon said, walking over to Aria, Elena and Rose, "Alice is soundly sleeping and won't remember a moment of this horribly stupid day"

Before Elena could argue with Damon, three vampires barged into the apartment, shocking everyone.

"We're here to meet the doppelganger and the Connor witch".

Elena nodded, she grabbed Aria's wrist, "Thank you for coming".

"Elena, no" Aria said, trying to free herself from Elena's grip.

Damon separated Elena and Aria, and glared at the older Gilbert, "I will break your arm" he warned Elena, he then turned towards the vampires, "There's nothing here for you".

Before any of the vampires could reply, one of them feel down to the floor dead, and behind him, stood Elijah.

Seeing Elijah alive, Rose panicked and quickly took off, while Damon and Aria exchanged a look, realising Aria was right this whole time, Elijah never died.

"Damon killed you, you were dead" Elena said shocked.

"For centuries now" Elijah replied, he then turned to the vampires, "Who are you?".

"Who are you?".

"I'm Elijah" Elijah introduced, shocking the two vampires.

"We were gonna bring them to you, for Klaus, they are the doppelganger and the Connor witch, I don't know they exist, but they do, Klaus would want to see her".

"Does anyone else know that you're here?" Elijah asked.

"No".

"Well, then you have been incredibly helpful" Elijah said, ripping the hearts out of the two vampires.

Elijah looked at Aria, and gave her a small smile, "Good to see you again, Ariana", and after that he was gone.

***

Elijah stood by the window sill and thought about his encounter with Aria, a small smile came on his face, he was happy that the Mikaelson's humanity was back, but it hurt him knowing the rest of his family will never be able to meet her, specially Kol.

Dr. Jonas Martin entered the room, breaking Elijah's chain of thought, "Where's Luka?" Elijah asked, when he realised Dr. Martin's son wasn't with him.

"Asleep" Jonas replied.

"Your shadow spell was successful" Elijah informed, "I was able to track the doppelganger and Ariana, however, I did have a little run in with one of the brothers that killed me".

"I assume he didn't live to tell about it" Jonas said.

"Actually, I spared him" Elijah informed, shocking Jonas, "His in love with Ariana, he'd die before he let anything happen to her, they both would, and since I can't be there to protect her, they will do my job, it's what Kol would have wanted".

"If Klaus finds out the Connor witch his after is a reincarnation of his best friend, will he still go through with the sacrifice?".

"Yes" Elijah replied, "But only after making sure, that Ariana wouldn't die in it".

"What are you going to do till then?" Jonas asked.

"Make sure that what happened one thousand years ago, with Tatia and Ariana, that doesn't happen this time" Elijah said, "If you couldn't tell, a Petrova and Connor can never be friends, the Petrova will always lead the Connor to her death".

***

"Thank you for bring me home" Aria said, walking up to the Gilbert's porch with Damon, Elena already gone up to her room.

"Well, your ride left you, I didn't wanna leave you stranded" Damon replied.

"Rose was scared Damon" Aria defended, "She didn't mean to run".

"Yes, she did, she's been running for 500 years" Damon snapped.

Aria sighed, "So, I was right, Elijah never died, but why did he kill the vampires and let us go?".

"If I had a dollar for every time some evil vampire surprised me" Damon said.

Aria nodded and went to open the door, when Damon grabbed her and pulled her towards him.

"Lying to me, about what you and Elene were actually doing, that was incredibly stupid" Damon said.

Aria sighed, "I know, I thought she understood me, but turns out I was wrong, but hey, like always, Damon Salvatore came to my rescue".

Damon sighed, "Just, promise me something".

"What?" Aria asked.

"Until this whole sacrifice thing is over, stay away from Elena, I don't want you to end up in the crossfire of one of her stupid ideas" Damon said.

"I promise" Aria assured, truth be told, after today, Aria will never be able to go with Elena somewhere alone, she will be to paranoid that Elena's handing her over to her death.

"Good" Damon whispered, his eyes flickering from Aria's eyes down to her lips.

"Anything else?" Aria asked smiling, knowing all to well what was going on in Damon's head.

"Actually yes" Damon replied, leaning down to kiss Aria.

Before Aria and Damon's lips could touch, a panicked Jeremy opened the door.

"What?" Damon asked, annoyed that him and Aria got interrupted.

"It's Stefan" Jeremy replied.

***

Aria ran down the stairs and towards the tomb as quick as her feet could take her, "Stefan" Aria called out, running to the entrance of the tomb, she was extremely worried for her best friend, "Stefan!".

Aria went to step inside the tomb, but Damon quickly grabbed her, "Aria, dont" he warned.

"Damon, Stefan's in there" Aria replied, "How did this happen?".

"I don't know Ria, I was too busy trying to make sure Elena didn't hand you over to Klaus" Damon snapped.

"Maybe Elena was right this whole time, going after the moonstone was a horrible idea!" Aria yelled, unknown to the fact that Stefan and Katherine were listening to her.

"It was the right call, Ria" Damon said.

"Look what your so called right call ended up doing Damon" Aria snapped, "Stefan's trapped in the tomb with the evil slut vampire!".

Aria tried to get out from Damon's grip and check up on Stefan, but Damon wouldn't let go.

"You done?" Damon asked, after a moment.

Aria didn't say anything, just looked behind Damon, where she saw Stefan.

"Stefan" Aria whispered.

Damon turned around and faced his brother, "Of all the idiot plans Stefan".

"We're gonna find a way to get out of here Stefan" Aria promised.

"That's all right, I'll, uh, I'll handle myself" Stefan assured, "Bonnie has the moonstone, work with her, try to figure out how to de-spell it".

"You martyr yourself into a tomb and I get partnered with a semi-competent witch, wonderful" Damon said.

"Aria, don't come back down here" Stefan said.

"What?" Aria asked shocked, "Why? I can't just leave you to rot here Stefan".

"I don't want you to see me like this" Stefan said, he then turned to Damon, "Promise me, no matter what happens, you'll protect Elena and Aria".

Damon looked towards Aria, he didn't know about Elena, but he knew, even without Stefan telling him, he would protect Aria with his life, "Promise".

"Please be careful" Aria whispered.

"I will" Stefan said, with a small smile.

Damon grabbed Aria's hand and took her with him.

"That right there was the biggest mistake you've ever made" Katherine told Stefan, "Damon would never protect Elena, he will gladly let her die if it meant his sweet little Aria was okay".

Stefan ignored Katherine and quietly walked further into the tomb.

***

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