I do not own TVD or TO, but I've been itching to write a time-travel fic for a while now, so thanks to kol-an-elena-fanfiction on tumblr for this awesome prompt, and for the collage cover.

'What' and 'if' were two words as non-threatening as words could be, but together, side by side, they possessed the power to haunt a person for the rest of their life.

She was sprawled on the cobblestones with a trickle of blood running over her cheek and too many 'what ifs' flying through her mind to count.

What if Stefan hadn't left town with Klaus? Would they still be together? Would she be safe in her bed?

What if she hadn't blown off family game night? Would her parents still be alive? Would she be involved in the supernatural? Would she be safe in her bed?

What if Katherine had never come to town?

What if Caroline hadn't suggested a girl's trip?

What if Bonnie hadn't gotten that grimoire in the mail?

Would she be safe in her bed?

The questions poured through her head, and didn't stop coming. She knew that they wouldn't until she opened her eyes and focused on the present.

She couldn't live in the past.

Her eyelids protested the order but eventually fluttered open. Rolling onto her side she sat up and prepared to tell them she was alright, but the words died on her tongue.

Her friends – who she knew would never abandon her – were nowhere to be found. She was alone in the fog filled cemetery. The moon was the only source of light to cast an eerie glow over the assortment of stone.

She raised a shaking hand to her aching head and stared up at the shadowed letters of the nearest mausoleum. Her fingers found a distinct lump beneath her hair and she winced, but blinked away the tears so she could read the name on the tomb.

She watched Bonnie try to open the door again and tilted her head. They had tried pulling. They had tried pushing. They had tried everything but the door would not budge.

"What's supposed to be in there anyway?" Elena rubbed her upper arms. The temperature had dropped since their arrival in the Crescent city.

"I have no idea," Bonnie groaned, tossing her hands in the air.

"So on our big road trip to forget about Klaus you detoured us for no apparent reason? I should be compelling us drinks somewhere before we dance the night away," Caroline inspected her finger nails; the manicure was in need of a touch up. "What exactly did the letter say?"

Bonnie pulled the typed sheet of paper from her pocket and passed it over. They already knew the words; they had puzzled over the letters contents since leaving Virginia.

"The answers you seek are sealed in the Gatreaux tomb. You'll find the tomb in Lafayette Cemetery," Elena read. She sighed and refolded the letter, quoting the last of the letter from memory; they were the words that had brought them to New Orleans. "The key to Klaus' demise."

"Who sent that?" Caroline eyed the paper as if expecting a signature to suddenly appear.

"I don't know," Bonnie shrugged. She dug in the shoulder bag she had dropped earlier to focus on the tomb, and flipped through until she found the grimoire that had come with the letter.

Elena watched as she thumbed through the pages and found something. A sense of dread prickled at the base of her scalp. She had the strangest feeling that whatever was coming next was unavoidable – inevitable.

"I think I've got a way in," Bonnie murmured, dragging her finger over the page, "I just need some… blood."

"Let me guess," Caroline rolled her eyes from one best friend to another.

Elena sighed under the pointed look from Caroline and the questioning one from Bonnie. She rolled up her sleeves and pulled off her gloves.

"All I can say is there had better be something good in there."

She tried looking at her watch but the numbers were too small to make anything out. She knew she had been there for a while though. Bonnie had cast the spell around two o'clock in the afternoon and the sun had long since vanished beneath the horizon.

Elena shifted onto her knees and felt her head swim.

"Ow…" she moaned and fought off a wave of nausea. It burned the back of her throat, threatening to come up in a violent spew.

She was pretty sure she felt the ground shifting, but she was only certain of it when a large hand settled on her shoulder. The heat spread through the layers of winter fabric to warm her freezing body. A second hand tipped up her chin and at first all she could see were the dark eyes nearly black in their intensity.

She realized that he was speaking when he probed her head injury and she looked down to his moving lips. She thought he might have sighed, but then his teeth elongated and his wrist was in her mouth before she could even hiss in pain.

Copper flooded her mouth and she grimaced.

"Why did you do that?" She wiped excess blood from her lips.

"You hit your head, darling," he pressed a handkerchief into her hand and helped her stand.

"I thought you said I had the wrong Mikaelson if I was in the market for a gentleman."

Elena dragged her eyes from her rescuer to the woman. She was wearing a long coat over an ankle length skirt and her blonde ringlets were covered with the ugliest hat Elena had ever seen. She was so distracted by the period clothes that it took her a moment to register the fact that she knew the name.

"I was right; if you want a gentleman you should look to Elijah. Now," he turned his attention to Elena, "now that you're healthy you can tell me why a doppelganger is in New Orleans."

Elena swallowed, turning her head to meet his eyes; there was a hint of amusement in the darkened depths. With a jolt she realized he wasn't expecting her to answer or even know what a doppelganger was. Her mind scrambled for the clues the pair had inadvertently dropped: 'Mikaelson', "Elijah', 'doppelganger', their fashion backward attire, and the uncanny resemblance to Elijah.

She was ninety-nine percent sure that everything that was happening entirely in her head. In the experience she had with Elijah and Klaus she knew that the brothers enjoyed a quick intellect so she countered his question with one of her own; it didn't matter what she said anyway.

"What's an Original doing skulking through the cemetery?" She cocked an eyebrow. "You're not gonna call me Katerina are you?"

He opened his mouth to say something but before he could she continued talking because apparently at some point during the road trip she had caught Caroline's babble bug and it seemed that bug had extended to her hallucination.

"Of course you're not because this is my dream, and I hate when people mix us up. Although since it happens so often in life it could happen here and that means that my dream isn't a dream, but a nightmare. What are you doing anyway: midnight sacrifice? Are you gonna kill me? Klaus killed me… Elijah tried to save me. What are you looking at me like that?"

She tilted her head when she saw his wide eyes.

"I'm not crazy," she tapped the side of her head. "My mind is perfectly in tack, and," her eyes darted between them, "at least I'm not wearing clothes that went out of style a century ago." Her eyes narrowed when he lifted her chin and caused goosebumps to rise on her arms. "What are you doing?"

"Checking for further head wounds," he murmured, running his gloved fingers through her hair. "My blood should have healed you by now."

"She's not injured," the woman said, "she has been displaced. I can feel the magic clinking to her skin from here. A spell has been cast on her and recently."

"Not on me," Elena protested. "Bonnie was trying to open the door."

"When did she do this?" The woman tilted her head. Her hat cast long shadows over her features.

"Earlier this afternoon," she shrugged.

"I was hoping for the date," she blinked. "I don't know what spell your friend Bonnie cast, but she has pushed you backwards in time."

"I'm in the past?" Elena pressed her lips together. Her knees wobbled and she would have fallen if not for the Original at her side reaching out to hold her up. "The… what year is it?"

"1914," he steadied her, "what was your friend after?"

"There was something in a tomb that was gonna…" Elena trailed off when she looked at him; he was an Original brother. "She wanted something inside but the door was sealed with magic and my blood boosts every spell."

"She sought something in my playhouse?" He searched her eyes. "You've gotten mixed up in some dark magic, haven't you? Which dark object were you seeking? What foe do you wish to vanquish?"

"I don't think vanquishing is possible," Elena shook her head, "more like putting him in his place." Her eyes flickered to the woman. "You're a witch? Can you undo what my friend did?"

"Maybe," she nodded, "but I'm a little busy at the moment. The city is at war."

Elena followed her eyes back to the man who was still holding her upright. Was he going to hand her to his brother?

"He doesn't have the moonstone," she swallowed, "so there's no point…"

"You know about the moonstone?" He frowned, but there was a hint of amusement in her eyes.

"From the future," she reminded him. "Klaus already killed me once and I know he doesn't have what he needs, and he won't have it for another century."

"Perhaps we could be of mutual use to each other," he tiled his head with a tight smirk. "You have knowledge that might help in this war, and I can keep you hidden from my brother, Miss Petrova."

"Gilbert," she corrected, "Elena Gilbert. And you are?"

He flashed a charming smile and lifted her hand.

"Kol Mikaelson," he kissed her knuckles, smirking when she shivered, "at your service, darling."

"Well," Elena cleared her throat, "how about getting me home, Kol Mikaelson?"

"That is a problem for Mary Alice, darling," he nodded to his companion before motioning Elena into the mausoleum. "This is a bad town for such a pretty face, and Klaus has eyes and ears everywhere."

At first glance the room was dark, bathed in ominous shadows. It was exactly what she expected the interior of a crypt to look like, but then Kol flipped an old fashioned switch and the air rushed from her lungs.

Floor to ceiling shelves were covered in a myriad of objects and books. There were several tables scattered around the room holding more paraphernalia.

She wanted to say something but she wasn't sure what so she traced a gramophone's needle with her fingertip as Kol addressed Mary Alice and a second woman she hadn't seen enter. She was marvelling over the perfect condition of the antiques that weren't yet antiques when long fingers curled around her elbow. Her arm tingled under the touch.

"Shall we darling?" Kol steered her toward the corner.

Elena almost laughed when she saw the daybed and couldn't stop the quip she was certain was a bad idea given the year.

"I've known you all of ten minutes and you're already trying to take me to bed," she clicked her tongue in mock disapproval, but amusement danced in her eyes, "at least buy me dinner first."

Her voice came out louder than she meant for it to, eliciting scandalized gasps from the chemistry lab atop a nearby table. She couldn't hear the comments, but Kol could and shot the women a look.

"Don't mind them, darling," he smirked, "they lack a proper sense of humour."

"I think a 'proper' sense of humour is why they didn't laugh," Elena muttered under her breath. She smiled when Kol chuckled and sat in the empty space beside her. "You mentioned a war?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"The witches of the city have turned on each other," Mary Alice looked up from her work to address Elena. "If we fail then Klaus wins and out ancestral home will fall to vampires. How are you meant to help us if you don't know what's going on?"

"I'm not from New Orleans," Elena pressed her lips together, "I don't know the full history of the city, and all I know of Originals is what I learned from Elijah, so I don't know how I'm meant to help you."

Her eyes flickered to Kol. How many years did he have before Klaus dropped him at the bottom of the ocean? What if she told him? Would it make a difference? What if she made everything worse?

"Actually, I do know," she squared her shoulders, "I help you by staying off Klaus' radar and staying alive."

"How is that helpful?" A line appeared between Astrid's eyes.

"Because if he uses me in his ritual he becomes more powerful than he already is," Elena met their eyes.

"I give you my word that won't happen," Kol swore. Fire flashed in his eyes.

Elena shifted to look at him, scrutinizing the vampire forgotten to history. She wondered if anyone remembered him in her time aside from Elijah, but she couldn't let herself dwell on thoughts of the noble brother; it hurt too much. She could still feel the sting of his betrayal like a knife in her gut, and it didn't matter that she knew why he had done it or that she had all but forgiven him for the act.

"Can I trust you?"

He looked in her eyes, all traces of amusement long gone, and something in her shifted. He leaned in just an inch and she followed him.

"I may be a beast, Elena Gilbert," his smooth voice drifted over her spine, making her heart skip a beat and a flush to stain her cheeks, "but I'm a man of my word, and when I make a promise I keep it."

"I've heard those words before," she smiled sadly.

"From me?" He cocked an eyebrow. "I know that tone, darling. Somebody has broken your trust."

"It wasn't you," Elena tilted her head. "We just met, remember?"

"Which means you have no reason to distrust me," he smirked.

"It also means I have no reason to trust you," she arched an eyebrow.

"Come on, darling," he smirked, "take a leap of faith."

Mary Alice shifted some objects around and hit a shallow bowl of powder. The substance flew through the air to coat Kol and Elena in a layer of dust.

She sputtered and coughed until her eyes watered before sucking in a greedy breath.

Caroline stared at the empty space by the stairs, pointing with a shaking finger. She turned and starred at Bonnie. She turned and starred at the stairs. She went back and forth a few times opening and closing her mouth, but the only sound that came out was a high squeak.

Bonnie wasn't fairing much better. She swallowed, starred at the empty space, dropped her unseeing gaze to the grimoire and looked back up. After a long moment she managed a strangled word.

"G-gone."

"Spell…" Caroline nodded, blinking. She had started talking early in life, gaining the title of a chatterbox, and hadn't stopped even when she didn't know the proper words for things, but for the first time in seventeen years of speaking she couldn't come up with two syllables to string together.

She mentally scolded herself but the words wouldn't come.

The sound of a vibrating cell phone snapped her eyes from the vacant air to Elena's fallen bad. She picked up the purse, extracted the cell phone and read the caller ID. Words instantly flooded her mouth.

"Seriously?" She pressed the phone to her ear and just managed to suppress her shriek. "We are on vacation."

"I'm only checking in, love."

Caroline frowned at the sound in his voice; it had dropped to the dangerous level he preferred for threatening his enemies; it was a tone he had never used with her.

"The whole point of this road trip was to get away from you and your check-ins," she rolled her eyes.

Bonnie snapped out of her daze and focused on the spell book.

"You may be out of town, but that will not stop me from checking in. I trust you'll be back by Monday."

"Sunday night," Caroline tapped her foot, "we've got school."

"And you'll have found my missing doppelganger in time for AP Chemistry?"

The blood drained from Caroline's face when she looked at the empty space on the steps. She gritted her teeth, spun in a slow circle to peer around the old lanes of the cemetery.

"Firstly, our first class is AP Biology." She sucked in a quick breath and then continued in a rush. "Secondly, her name is Elena. Thirdly, she's not yours, and fourthly she's not missing, so go ahead and tell whatever hybrid you've got following us to back off because we know exactly where she is."

She hung up the phone with an angry jab of her finger and turned to Bonnie. Her hands landed on her hips as she took a deep breath.

"Where is she?" Caroline forced her voice to remain calm.

"I don't know," Bonnie shook her head. "The spell was supposed to reveal what was hidden. It was supposed to open the door 'to that which has been forgotten'."

"Why don't you tell us a little more about this spell?" A slow voice drawled from the shadows.

Caroline and Bonnie spun around quickly. The heavy grimoire would have fallen from Bonnie's hand if a vampire hadn't rushed forward to grab it. The second man had creamy brown skin and curly hair; he held the book aloft and spoke faster than his companion.

"Didn't anyone tell you there's no magic in this city?" He sneered.

"Give that back," Bonnie's eyes narrowed. She needed the book to get Elena back.

"I don't think you're grasping the severity of your situation, witch," he scoffed. "Magic is forbidden; you practice, you die."

"Diego," the first man stepped out of the shadows. He adjusted the flat cap on his head and held out his hand. "Let me see that."

Caroline shifted closer to Bonnie as the man flipped the book over. His long fingers caressed the spine with an air of familiarity. She frowned when he looked straight at Bonnie with bright eyes.

"Bonnie Bennett?" His brows rose hopefully.

"Yeah," Bonnie frowned, "and who are you?"

"Could we get on with killing the witch now, Thierry?" Diego rolled his eyes.

"Nah, man," he smirked, "this one's approved."

"Marcel knows about it?" Diego crossed his arms. "If it's approved why'd he send us out here?" He flashed over the cobblestones and pinned Bonnie to the side of the mausoleum by her shoulders.

"That's a bad idea man," Thierry warned.

"Let her go!" Caroline rushed Diego, but before she could touch him he swept an arm back and tossed her into the stone wall of a nearby tomb.

The first rush of air burned her lungs. The second was work.

She pried her eyes open and focused on the layer of dust that blanketed the Chemistry lab. The air was too heavy; she couldn't get enough oxygen so she stood from the daybed and stumbled to the door.

The sound of a scuffle drew her eyes up and she moved with a renewed energy to spin the locking mechanism. Blinking against the bright afternoon light brought the scene into stark focus and made her blood boil.

She moved in a blur of motion and tore the man from Bonnie. A feral sound rose in her throat as she glared at him.

"Elena?" Caroline whispered.

"I told you it was a bad idea, man," he chuckled.

Caroline got to her feet slowly and stared at the brunette. She was wearing the same clothes down to the blue ankle boots, but the fabric appeared to be faded. There was a silver locket Caroline had never seen before around her neck, but the thing that made her heart stutter were her friend's contorted facial features. Her eyes were completely red, and underneath the flood of blood black veins pulsed over her cheekbones. White fangs poked out from between her red lips.

"What happened to you?" Bonnie whispered.

"Who the hell are you?" Diego dusted the stone from his jacket. "Vampires ain't supposed to protect witches."

Caroline and Bonnie watched in silence as Elena's eyes returned to normal and shift to the first man.

"Is he going to be a problem, Thierry?"

"Witches don't rule the Quarter anymore," he glanced at Diego, "Marcel is in charge now, and witches caught practicing are put to death." His voice grew quiet when her eyes narrowed. "It's a new rule."

Elena nodded and turned her attention back to Diego. Authority dripped from her tongue.

"You are not going to harm a hair on my friend's head."

"I don't take orders from you," Diego scoffed, looking down his nose at the short brunette.

"I don't think you heard me," she smiled sweetly and advanced. Her hand flattened over his heart. Looking into his eyes she dropped her voice to a persuasive purr. "You are not going to harm my friend."

Diego nodded, numbly.

"Now be a good little boy and take a message to Marcel," she smiled when he nodded again, but her voice had hardened. "Tell him Elena is back and that he has a lot of explaining to do."

She removed her hand from his chest and broke eye contact, watching as he shook himself from the hypnotic stupor and flashed away. She could feel the confused stares of her friends.

"Did you just compel a vampire?" Caroline swallowed.

"What did I do to you?" Horror flashed in Bonnie's eyes.

"You didn't do this, Bon," Elena exhaled slowly. She ran her tongue over her aching gums. "It's a very long story, and I need to tell off a vampire before I can really get into it. Aside from the power trip with the witches?"

"The wolves were run out of town. He's older than you," Thierry reminded her.

"He might be older, sweetie," Elena turned around bringing her hand up to cup his cheek, "but I'm stronger. You don't need to worry about me."

"I haven't seen you in eighteen and a half years," Thierry's eyes narrowed. "Sue me for not wanting to lose my mother again after just getting her back."

"Mother?" Caroline's jaw dropped.

"Like I said," Elena bit her bottom lip, "it's a long story that I will gladly regale you with on the journey back to Mystic Falls."

"You're a vampire, and you're gonna go flaunt that in Klaus' face?" Bonnie gaped.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet," Elena flashed a teasing smile, "I've been gone longer than a few minutes, and in that time I've made a list of people I need to tell off. I finally know where Klaus is gonna be, so yeah I'm gonna rub this in his face. Thierry, perhaps you could give me the cliff-notes of the situation with the witches?"

"Botched Harvest."

What do you think of this first chapter? The muse ran away with me.