The dark room stood shrouded in an eerie silence, its inky blackness swallowing every flicker of light that dared to enter. A heavy air of foreboding permeated the space, sending chills down the spine. Shadows danced and twisted, their elongated forms reaching out like sinister tendrils. She stood inside the dilapidated shed, her heart pounding in my chest. The air was heavy with a musty stench, a combination of damp wood and decaying hay. The sound of her own breathing echoed in her ears, a constant reminder of the fear that gripped her.

The shed itself was a forsaken structure, rotting and weathered from years of neglect. Its wooden planks creaked ominously as the wind whispered through the cracks. A single dim light bulb swayed from a frayed wire, casting flickering shadows that danced across the cobweb-covered walls. The air was stagnant and suffocating, as if it held secrets best left untold.

Maeve gulped, panting in fear. Her vision clouded with black spots, she used her sense of touch to communicate with her surroundings. Her fingers curled around bars but retreated them with a sharp hiss of pain. The burnt marks on the palm of her hand throbbed making her lay her hands flat open. She blinked her eyes a few times; they turned to red aiding her with a better night vision.

"Zeke!" she screamed out to her brother.

"Maeve?" a low tired voice responded. The voice felt as if it came from a distance.

"Where are you?"

"I think the cell next to yours." Ezekiel answered struggling to breathe properly. "What happened?"

"I don't know." she told him with an anguished tone. "Are you hurt?"

"I can't feel anything, Moony." he said tiredly. "It's like my body's gone numb."

Maeve's mouth fell agape hearing her brother, "they must have given you a paralysing agent or something. Just hold on for me Zeke, I'll get us out of here."

She looked around the small cell she was held in. "How did we get here?" she asked herself. Her memory felt lost and hazed out. Nothing came to her mind instantly, only phantom feeling of panic and casting a spell. Trapped within the confines of this cell, her mind raced to remember how she ended up here. But the memories remained elusive, like fragments of a dream slipping through her fingers.

It hit her strongly and at once. The storming in troop of police officers with their guns held up and setting the cave ablaze with gunfire. Maeve touched the side of her waist where she felt the gunshot wound. Blood seeped down the side of her body drenching her jeans in red. "Zeke! Are you hurt?"

She didn't receive any response from him making her heart pound in her chest. "Zeke?"

"No blood or anything. Just numbness." he finally spoke. Maeve sucked in a harsh breath although relieved. She paced around the small square holding her captive.

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An uncharacteristic silence reigned in the once-bustling abode. As lamps flickered weakly, casting elongated and distorted silhouettes against the walls, a sense of foreboding permeated every corner.

Elijah stood by the window inside the living room, hands tucked inside the pocket of his dress pants. His eyes fixated on the inky blackness spread outside. Tyler or Klaus remained by the armchair unwillingly standing there with a glass of bourbon. Kol rubbed his hands together tapping the heel of his foot against the floor.

"We can't just sit here doing nothing! We need to make a plan." Kol yelled suddenly in frustration. Caroline walked back inside right on time with a grim-look glassing her eyes. Her eyes met with Klaus's first. Before anyone could say more, Elijah bombarded her with questions.

"What did you find?" he asked in a tremulous voice powering across the room with strong steps.

"It's Elena." Caroline's voice was small but held some accusation to it as she relayed what she had found out. "Rebekah killed her. But she's a vampire." she stopped herself abruptly seeing the dark look slowly encroaching over all of their faces.

"Caroline, do you honestly believe given what is happening as we speak, either of us are interested in Elena?" Elijah's low yet penetrating voice made Caroline speechless. She shook her head powering her eyes to the floor.

"Council is rounding off vampires. They are at a place out of the town. Only Pastor knows where that might be."

Elijah turned away immediately as did Kol. Klaus rubbed a hand over his face. All stood in the room as helpless as the other. "What are we going to do? Force Bonnie to perform a locator spell? Kill through the council?" Kol suggested.

"We're not killing anyone." Caroline said as a matter of fact. Kol sharply turned his head to Caroline with a deadly glare. "Not unless needed." she added on.

The lights in the room flickered strangely drawing their attention. All eyes wandered around the room, at each light lighting up the room. Their shadows casting around the floor and walls. Shadows danced and twisted, their movements becoming more frenzied.

A sudden gust of wind rattled the windowpanes, causing them to tremble in their frames. The sound reverberated through the room, amplifying the sense of unease that hung heavy in the air. The darkness seemed to grow thicker, as if it had a life of its own, encroaching upon their senses and enveloping them in a suffocating embrace.

A surge of energy raveled through the room. "Guys.." called out Kol. Their attention was drawn to a silhouette taking form in a corner.

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Maeve raised her hands, a surge of energy rippled through the air, crackling with raw power. Her commanding presence filled the space, echoing her authority over the forces of nature. With an ancient language flowing from her lips, the spell begins to take shape.

The spell weaved together the elements of fire, air, water, and earth, harnessing their primal energies. Flames danced in intricate patterns over her fingertips, sparks illuminating the darkness as if stars were born anew. Gusts of wind whirled around the Queen, creating an ethereal cyclone that carried her intent across the land.

As the spell reaches its zenith, a surge of energy radiates outward in a pulsating wave. She closed her eyes, an incandescent glow illuminating upon her face. She opened her eyes, lost of their usual colour and covered in a sheath of white.

Ezekiel panicked paralysed in place. He turned his head around, as the air turned violent around. "Maeve!" he screamed out calling her name.

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The atmosphere was charged with an energy that was palpable. All watched with anxiousness as the silhouette moved through the gentle shadows cast upon the corner by the dull lighting of the wall lamps. Kol, being in front tilted his head to a side glaring at the shadow.

"Who are you?" he asked. The shadow crept out of the corner. His eyes widened in shock. Maeve slowly appeared before them in a translucent form. She looked like a ghost with an effervescent glow illuminating her form.

"Mocha..." Kol's voice lowered, his eyes settling on the blotch coating the t-shirt she wore. "Is that blood?"

Maeve began, her voice like an echo booming loudly around them all, "I got shot. I'm okay but Zeke is not. I think they paralysed him. But I──I don't know where we are."

"What does it look like? Around you?" asked Elijah taking long strides closer to her. All three brothers stood next to one another intently focusing on Maeve and her words.

"It──its a shed...like, um, abandoned. Silver bars, small cells and wooden structure." Maeve described, her eyes flickering and shaking from Kol to Elijah and then to Tyler, "Nik! Are you okay?"

"Really? You're checking up on me?" Klaus's voice was thick and with an angry gruff.

"What? The spell worked so──" she cut herself off. Maeve turned and stared into space, her face marring into a fearful look, "who's there?" She paused for a few moments, "What do you want?" there was a moment of silence where Maeve stood absolutely still. "What? No!" Another pause came. Maeve heaved strong breaths, her hands trembling on the sides of her body. "Get away!" her image that appeared in the room flickered like a distorted image before it vanished.

Elijah's eyes wavered around the space where Maeve stood a second ago. "There can't be that many houses with abandoned looking sheds around Mystic Falls." Kol said, his voice was frantic and hurried conveying the fear all felt.

Rebekah scampered into the room distort. She read the room quickly, "what happened?"

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A figure strolled inside the shed. Maeve's breath hitched, she gulped down the knot forming in her throat. "Who's there?" she asked, seeing a shadow elongate slowly before reaching to the wall at the far end of the shed.

The figure was of a man. He had light beard and white hair, dressed in a black coat. He studied her with adoring eyes, before he turned to the cell next to hers. "I'm Pastor Young." He introduced himself. "And you...are a dangerous being." he said reaching to her cell and stood directly in front of her. Pastor wound his arms around his back and held an intense stare with her,

"What do you want?"

"A lot of things. Some of which, you can give me. Provided you co-operate." The Pastor stopped for a moment briefly administering if Maeve was going to oppose or argue. When she didn't respond, he chose to continue, "kill all the vampires in town. Including the Originals."

"What? No."

"Yes. Maeve, Alaric kindly informed us of your supernatural nature of existence. This I believe is a member of your pack. We can both join forces and kill off the vampires together. No one to cause anymore sleepless nights. What do you say?" The Pastor said indifferently. "So, what's it going to be?"

"No." she forcefully let out with breath. Pastor tutted dismissively.

"Not what I wanted to hear." he said. She snapped his finger and on command marched in a police officer holding a syringe in between his fingers. "Get away!" she yelled out.

Ezekiel thrashed around as much as he could screaming out to gain Pastor Young's attention but to avail. His eyes were fixated on Maeve. The officer opened the cell door and prowled inside holding up the syringe.

In a thrilling moment, Maeve launched herself at the man. With a powerful twist, she dislocated his shoulder, forcing him into submission. Her eyes blazed with a mix of red and gold, her fangs lengthening menacingly. Adrenaline surged through her veins, and her sole desire was to inflict punishment. She forcefully plunged her hand through the man's ribs, tearing out his heart. A growl escaped her throat, a warning to the Pastor.

She took a step but her feet wobbled under the pressure. "You're weak. Whatever you may think, this is for the best." Pastor Young pulled her up by grabbing her arm and threw her inside the cell again. "Perhaps by morning you would have changed your mind."

Morning arose, not that it mattered much. No one inside the newly renovated mansion slept the whole night. Everyone kept searching the town records and maps available to find a possible place where there could be a shed.

Kol looked up from a particular town record, shutting it close with a frustrated and impatient sigh. He glanced at his oldest brother whom he had for the first time in a few centuries seen visibly distraught and anxious. Elijah's brows were furrowed, his hands tracing over the Mystic Falls map.

"We'll find her, Elijah. Don't worry." Kol told him, sounding affirmative, not that anyone would have believed his words.

"We will." he agreed glancing at Kol for a few seconds before he started examining the map for the seventh time since he opened it.

"This is ridiculous." Klaus, still stuck inside Tyler's body exasperated throwing off the map from the table, "I'm calling Bonnie." He announced.

"I'll see if there's some different kind of spell in that book I saw at Maeve's place." Kol excused himself as well. Elijah was left alone to his thoughts inside the large living room space.

A shuffle of footsteps drew him out of his thoughts. He turned around to the entrance of the room and saw Damon walk in with stomping of his feet. "Damon Salvatore. I see you are still alive." he said sounding strict and unbothered.

"Miracle and much to your dismay, I'm sure." Damon forced a smile, "where is your sister?"

"What do you want with her?"

"She killed Elena."

"So you think you'll exact revenge then?" Elijah mocked him.

Damon pursued his lips choosing not to say anything. The absence of a particular figure in the room sparked curiosity in him. "Where's Maeve?" he asked Elijah.

"What's it to you?"

"Alaric tried attacking her last night and now the council is rounding up vampires. Alaric told them about us."

"And you are here for..." Elijah trailed off letting Damon carry on,

"How much are you willing to bet they captured Maeve?"

Elijah pushed Damon against the wall behind, holding a hand around his neck, "Damon, if you or either of the mystic falls gang is somehow involved in her disappearance, make no mistake that I can be just as ruthless and perhaps more as my brother."

Kol sped into the room hearing the ruckus. "What's happening?" he asked seeing Elijah holding Damon in a death hold.

"What do you know about the council?" asked Elijah. Damon placed his hand on top of Elijah's.

"I...I don't know. Alaric told them about us." Elijah loosened his grip around him and stepped away.

"How many of the councilmen did he conduct a meeting with?" Elijah asked him.

Damon guessed a few names on the council seeing he was outnumbered. "Leave. Now." Elijah commanded him as soon as he didn't have more to share.

Damon scurried out of the mansion. Kol turned to Elijah, "how much are you willing to bet, this Pastor Young and Fell, both have houses outside of the town?"

"Everything."

Maeve's eyelids fluttered open, her vision blurred and hazy. The air in the shed was heavy with dust, the musty smell filling her nostrils.

Her body ached, every muscle protesting with soreness as she slowly began to regain consciousness. The cold, hard ground beneath her sent shivers up her spine, the chill seeping into her bones. She tried to move, but her limbs felt heavy and uncooperative. Blood coated the hay beneath her feet. Maeve lifted up her shirt to see her wound was still oozing blood. She threw her head back gritting her teeth to hold off a grunt of pain.

Maeve's ears strained to catch any other sounds. She could hear murmurs from inside the shed itself, making her heart pound in her chest. She noticed the legs first before the dead man on the floor of the shed.

With a deep breath, Maeve summoned her strength and pushed herself up, her body protesting every movement. As she stood, her legs wobbled beneath her, weak from the time spent unconscious and loss of blood.

"Ezekiel?" she called out her brother's name.

"Oh thank Seline!" she heard his prayer loud and clear. "Are you okay?"

"I think so...just too tired." Maeve's voice wavered before it faltered down. Her eyes adjusted to the bright light that had replaced the previously dim one. Slowly gaining control over her senses she realised the difference in the situation of her captivity. A loud exhaust fan was working overhead.

"Maeve!" she heard another voice in the midst of the exhaust system.

"Bekah?" Maeve moved closer to the silver bars on the cell peering for a closer look. Rebekah laid tired and dazed inside the cell across from hers.

"What happened?" asked Maeve, her eyes roving around the room. A silent gasp left her chapped parted lips when she saw Elena laying against the wall.

"We were taken by the council. Elena just completed her transition." Rebekah summarised before she rested her head on the pale cracked dirty walls.

"Zeke? How are you?" asked Maeve turning her head to her right.

"I'm okay. I can move my body now." He said trying to sound humourous.

"I'm so sorry, Zeke! I'm so sorry."  Maeve repeated an apology multiple times. She slid down the wall joining her cell with Ezekiel's.

"Hey, it's okay...look, it all turned out right in the end?"

"But, I'm sorry you got here because of me."

"Not because of you. Listen, I chose this too Moony. He saved my sister multiple times, has been a good friend and──to be honest he's a nice company. So yeah, not all that bad." Ezekiel chuckled wiping a hand over his face.

"I'll get us out. I promise." she said.

"Don't try anything." Ezekiel said strongly, "how is your gunshot?"

"Still bleeding." Maeve grimly told them.

"Maeve, don't move. Listen, you have lost a lot of blood. You shouldn't move." Ezekiel instructed Maeve.

"I have to get us all out of here."

Rebekah rolled her eyes and turned her head to face Maeve, "will you ever put yourself first?"

"That ‘us’ includes me too, you know." Maeve lifted her body up and moved away from the silver bars. She held out her hands, palms facing the bars. Once again foreign words left her words incoherently. The bar rattled, as did the door before it tore itself apart from the hinges that held it to the walls of the shed.

Maeve stepped out. With a simple wave of her hand, she opened the cell doors of Rebekah, Elena and surprisingly Stefan as well. She ripped out the door to Ezekiel's cell and went to his aid immediately. She placed her hand on his face, looking for any injuries.

Ezekiel placed his hand on top of hers and smiled tiredly at him, "I'm okay."

"You're not." Maeve said adamantly. She held up Ezekiel's hand showing the bruising on his arm that had turned black and blue.

"As opposed to you being shot?" shot back Ezekiel before he coughed a few times. Both siblings held each other for support and stepped out of the shed. Ezekiel held her up.

"Maeve please sit down. You've lost a lot of blood." Ezekiel told her, putting her hand over his shoulder to lift up her weight.

Just outside, both nervously gulped seeing the scene unfolding. Elijah and Kol stood holding off five police officers while Damon simply stood there like a show doll tackling one police officer at a time.

Maeve sighed, her shoulders slumping when she looked at them all, here to save them. She staggered ahead of Ezekiel barely able to hold herself upright. Her eyes flickered to the house. She noticed a figure in the door watching the gory scene unfold in the front yard of the house.

"Pastor Young" her voice echoed, with a throaty strength to the boom of her voice. The man hiding behind the door of his house, averted his eyes to her, his breath hitching in his throat because of her glowering strong appearance with red eyes.

"Don't." Ezekiel stopped Maeve before she could take another step. "Leave him for the elders to decide."

Maeve nodded her head. She turned her body over to the two Mikaelson brothers standing there looking her way. "Elijah..." her voice sounded breathy. He didn't waste another second to reach for her. Maeve leapt into his arms as soon as he was close enough to touch. Her arms draped around his neck, face nuzzled into his shoulder. The comfort of his hold around her, somehow made her be less frantic about the events that unfolded in the last thirty hours.

Elijah's hand rested on her back, his breath finally equalising and heart steading itself. He felt the blood that blotched on her side. Elijah pulled away and studied her face. "Are you alright?"

"Now I am." said Maeve with a tired smile. "Just...there's a bullet in me, so can you Rambo it out of me?"

Maeve sat on the front steps of the Mikaelson mansion, feeling the silence of the cold night fanning over her body. She nursed her glass of Bourbon in hand, head tilted back, eyes closed and mind drowning in the moments spent inside the shed.

A cold hand touched her bare shoulder making her flinch up and look at Elijah with frightened eyes. Elijah took away his hand immediately raising his hands in surrender. A look of worry and fear quickly washed over his face.

"I──I'm sorry." Maeve was quick to apologise to him. Elijah settled down next to her.

Despite how desperately he wanted to yell at her for apologising. How strongly he wanted her to promise him that she would run as far away from there to find peace and happiness, one that wasn't at the cost of constant moments of pain, fear, death. Despite how much he wanted to tell her that he cared for her more than he imagined he would ever for someone else, he chose to silence every single thought and expression.

"Why did you come for me? Why help me anyway?" asked Maeve sincerely.

"This again?" he deflated a sigh hanging his head low. "When are you going to get it through your head that I will always help you, come for you."

"We all will." came Kol's voice. Both turned their heads around to see him standing in the doorway holding a bottle of Bourbon.

Maeve smiled affectionately, "how can I thank you all for this?"

"Well──" kol approached the two of them and sat down on the stair just below them and situated so he was facing both of them. "You could help us finish this bottle."

"After everything, I will." Maeve took her glass and held it up. "hit me!"

Hours the three just drank the bottle in silence, without saying more. Midnight rolled in quicker than they thought. Kol excused himself and left the two alone.

"How are you feeling?"

Maeve let her emotions run free, tears finally roll down her face, those which she held back on. Her brave face drowned in the exhaustion she truly felt. "Mystic Falls was supposed to be a fresh start. I was not socially fitting before being supernatural and I still am not now. This was a way for me to find a place of my own even with all of this craziness." Maeve sucked in a harsh breath. "But all I've faced in this time...just──I'm tired Elijah. I am really tired and done."

"What do you want to do?" Elijah asked her. Maeve finished her drink in one gulp, her face scrunching at the sharp taste of the bourbon burning her throat.

"I want to run away." she confessed glancing at Elijah. He considered her words, his eyes fixated on her.

"Then run away." Elijah concurred with soft eyes set upon her already. "Nobody is going to argue, talk you out of it or stop you. Run away. If anyone deserves it, then it is you." Maeve placed the glass beside her and turned her body slightly toward Elijah. She reached her hand out and laced her fingers with his.

"About running away..." she began, "will you come with me?"

"You want me to?" asked Elijah quite surprised with her.

Maeve leaned in and kissed him on the lips, a smile forming on both of their faces as they pulled away, "I don't make it a point of kissing just anyone."

"How lucky for me." he teasingly responded.

"You and your siblings have been more welcoming to me than any other vampire thus far in Mystic Falls. Nothing I ever imagined I'd ever get outside of my pack. You are the reason I got control first over myself, feeling better in my skin."

Elijah smiled but remained silent. Maeve rested her chin on his shoulder looking up through her brows at him, "So, Mikaelson...will you run away from the world with me?"