Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries

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Ha ha! Been a long time, hasn't it? I hope you guys are still out there reading this story & I'm looking forward to hearing your opinions on this chapter VERY soon :D

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Kira couldn't stop smiling, she really couldn't. Staring into Jeremy's wide, beautiful brown eyes, all she could do was laugh at the sight of him staring right back at her.

Actually seeing her!

"This is incredible," She breathed, fluttering her hands around his face, a pang of sorrow shooting through her at being unable to touch him.

Jeremy seemed to be having the same trouble, his hands clenching and unclenching against his knees as they sat opposite each other on his bed. Desperate to reach out and touch her.

"I know," Her little brother admitted shakily, refusing to look away from her as if afraid that if he did, she'd disappear again. "I missed you so much, Kira," His voice was rough with tears, his pain obvious. "Losing mum and dad was hard enough, but you…this past year has been hell. Absolute, unending hell."

And with her brother's words, Kira's mind was flung back to all that she had discovered in the few days she'd been back in Mystic Falls. The things that had changed. The dangers that now surrounded her family.

"What the hell happened after I died, Jer?" Kira asked softly, almost demanding. "I come back and everything's different. Out of this world, different."

"I know," Running a trembling hand through his hair, he opened his mouth to begin explaining only to freeze, his eyes shooting back up to lock with hers. "Wait…what do you mean 'I come back'…?!"

Dragging a deep breath in through her lungs, Kira pressed her lips together tightly, her heart beginning to pound as she read the mounting emotion in Jeremy's eyes.

"Kira?"

Her nails dug into her thighs. "I died, Jer. Died…Only-" Without warning, a small, bitter chuckle bubbled up through her chest, shocking her younger sibling. "Only, I didn't move on like I expected to. I woke up, surrounded by trees, my mind…a mess."

She gasped.

Sharp, panicked breaths of air as her sapphire eyes darted frantically around her.

Trees. She could see trees.

What? Wher-? Why wa-? Where was she?!

Her thoughts spun chaotically, not making sense as she stumbled gracelessly to her feet.

What was she doing here? Where was here? How? What was happening?!

Dizziness took her, the world beneath her feet spinning uncomprehendingly as she fell.

"Ah!" Crying out with pain, she looked down to see she'd landed on a large log of wood, the momentum of her fall jarring through her shoulder.

"You have to understand…I didn't remember," Her eyes begged him to understand, to not judge. "Everything was a jumble of flashes and emotions and…pain."

Clutching the bruised joint, Kira staggered to her feet, her eyes wide as she slowly spun around, trying to work out where on earth she was, and, more importantly, how she'd gotten there in the first place.

It was at that point, she saw the water. Not five feet away lay a river she was intimately familiar with, having run along its edge more times than she could count as a child. As if the realisation had summoned its counterpart, Kira finally realised why she was having such trouble keeping her feet. She was standing on a riverbed. Looking behind her, the tall trees rose up imposingly, but she recognised them.

She was an hour's walk from Mystic Falls, deep in the woods that surrounded the wealthy town.

Her brows drew down in bewilderment. What in God's name was she doing here?!

The longer she was awake the more thoughts started to come back to her.

Shaking her head, Kira suddenly leapt off the blue quilt, shoving her long chestnut hair away from her face with a violent yank.

"It was not supposed to be this way," She growled, pacing frantically across his floor. "When you die, you're not supposed to…! I was trapped here, Jer!" Her sudden scream startled him badly, making him flinch against the wall pressed against his back. "I could see you! I could see you crying, yelling, in pain because of me! But I couldn't do anything about it! I had to watch! Watch! As my family tore itself apart! As they tried picking themselves back up, began living again….forgetting…" Her last word was a whisper, almost as if she didn't want him to hear it. Ashamed. Pained sapphire eyes darted up to meet the tearful brown of her brother, the lump in her throat making it difficult to speak. "I couldn't take it anymore, Jer," Kira admitted softly, remembered agony darkening the once bright orbs. "It was too hard. I couldn't just watch…I couldn't. It wasn't in me to."

"Kira…" Jeremy struggled to get off the bed quickly enough, horror in his eyes as he watching his always strong sister break. "I-I'm so sor-"

"It was driving me insane, Jer!" Her hands were outstretched, stopping him from coming any closer. The guilt that she'd pushed aside for leaving her family, her friends, her life in Mystic Falls all those months ago crashing down on her without mercy. "I was getting angrier and angrier at the world, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to live an existence of watching. Please! You have to believe me! I needed to leave."

"It's alright!" Jeremy tried to say, despair coating every one of his features as he took another step towards her retreating figure. "Kira, it's alright! I promise, I don't blame you! I-I don't think I could have handled that either."

Staring up into her little brother's gentle, understanding eyes, Kira felt the energy drain out of her, her heart slowly calming.

"I didn't know," She whispered. Seeing the confusion pinch the skin between Jeremy's brows, Kira forced her voice to steady, determined to get her raging emotions back under control. "About the curse. About Elena…Jenna."

Pain flashed through his eyes at the mention of their lost aunt, but he managed to nod, smiling her weakly. No blame in his gaze.

"I know."

…

Kol glared darkly over his brother's shoulder as he took long pulls from Elijah's outstretched wrist, the ancient blood swelling shrivelled cells with more success and speed than even fresh human blood would have.

The slight tug against his mouth was all the indication he needed to stop, his fangs sliding out of his brother's wrist with the same ease they'd pierced the skin.

He nodded curtly at Elijah in thanks, the dark anger storming through him too intense for anything else.

Elijah moved on to Rebekah, offering his wrist and blood with the same lack of hesitation he'd shown both Finn and Kol.

"This will not sustain us for long," The unfamiliar, rough notes of his oldest brother's voice cracked through the air, attracting all of their attentions. "While selfless, Elijah, we will need all our strength to face Niklaus if what you say is indeed true and he has broken the curse."

"I saw Niklaus transform into a wolf with my own eyes, Finn," Elijah stated calmly, but Kol could see the shining happiness in his dark eyes. The way they skipped continuously over each of them, as if making sure that what he was seeing was indeed real. "And we will procure human blood soon. In the meantime, I was daggered only a short time ago, my strength is barely weakened. I can afford the blood-loss, I assure you."

"Thank-you, Elijah," The soft, genuine voice of his sister whispered as she pulled back from their older brother, some of the greyness of her features diminished.

But not entirely.

"What year is it?" The quiet, dangerous words were the first he had spoken since awakening, and he saw the way all three of his siblings tensed.

Elijah didn't answer immediately, avoiding his eyes. "I don't believe that is the most pressing issue, Kol. Let us contend with the here and now, first."

Kol rose to his feet with fluid, deadly grace.

"Come now, Elijah," The charming, debonair smirk on his lips did nothing to hide the furious rage seething inside of him. "I know it must be some time since I was last awake to the world, nothing like this sort of contraption was around then." His arms spread wide to indicate the shaking walls of the truck around them, the constant hum of the engine beneath their feet.

"Don't start, Kol," Rebekah snapped, her beaded white dress moving in time to the motion of the vehicle they were standing in. "I'm beyond furious with Nik too, but, even so, neither of us has a leg to stand on with Finn now undaggered and beside us again."

Selfish rage swelled up inside of him, wanting nothing more than to tell his sister to be quiet, but the stone face of a brother he'd not seen in over seven hundred years stopped him.

He forced the anger down.

Elijah's dark eyes met his own then, an understanding gratitude shining there. He knew how difficult it was for Kol to push aside his well-deserved fury. Much like Niklaus, he had no tolerance for those who betrayed him. Elijah knew that. Knew that he was probably far more homicidal than quiet Finn right now, despite their eldest brother's deeper reasons, and his eyes thanked him. Told him that he understood his rage, was relieved and grateful that he wasn't letting it control him.

"What is your plan, Elijah?" Finn asked quietly, leaning weakly against the metal railing.

"I think the more prudent question is who removed the daggers from our hearts," Rebekah stated, rubbing her arm. "Nik never lets anyone close to our coffins. Only those he has compelled and has absolute control over are allowed to move us. He trusts no-one. Whoever did this…"

As his sister's voice trailed off, Kol's head suddenly snapped up. Eyes alight.

"What is it, Kol?" Elijah, seeing the abrupt change in his youngest brother's emotions, asked immediately. Concerned.

Kol ignored him.

Moving swiftly, paying the burning eyes of his siblings no mind, he crossed the small space of the truck to reach his coffin.

Black eyes swept the satin lining, his anger mounting as each inch uncovered itself.

"…It's not here."

Fingers curled deeply into the polished black, splintering the wood.

"Kol?"

"It's not here!" He snarled, spinning around to face the others. "The dagger. It's gone."

His soft, furious words froze the air, stunning his siblings into silence.

And then they moved.

Elijah, Finn, Rebekah; three blurs moved towards their individual casket, searching for the only weapon on this Earth that could harm them.

"…What do we do?" Bekah's scared whisper had Elijah moving quickly to sweep her into his arms. Pulling her close.

"We find them," Kol stated darkly, resolute. There was no nervousness in his voice, no fear. Only truth. "We find them, and we kill the one who took them."

"We don't know-" Finn began to protest.

"No, he's right," Elijah interrupted, eyes flat. "It is clear that the person who awakened us has their own agenda. Taking the daggers proves that."

"Perhaps they were scared," Finn argued, annoyed.

"So, what?" Bekah squawked, "They took the daggers as insurance? In case they didn't like the outcome of their plan?!"

Kol's hands fisted at his sides, trembling with suppressed rage.

All this talk was getting them nowhere.

"I don't give a damn what their reasons were," His soft, dark voice cut off Finn and Rebekah's argument. All eyes turning to him. "I don't care why they chose to awaken us. What they want us to do or why, it doesn't matter to me."

"We'll get the daggers back," Elijah added after a moment, nodding solemnly. "Our first order of business remains Niklaus…" Looking each of them in the eye, he suddenly sighed; voice sad. "We should leave. Klaus is frightened of being alone. Of us abandoning him."

"Why would we stay?!" Finn hissed, anger pouring off of him for the first time. "He clearly doesn't see us as family! You don't put your family in boxes so you don't have to deal with them!"

"That's not why-!" Rebekah snapped, blue eyes blazing.

"Rebekah," Elijah soothed. "I know that you and Niklaus have always felt close. That you believe you share a bond that you don't have with the rest of us-"

Kol chuckled dryly. "Ah, yes, Nik and Bekah's 'special bond'," He mocked. "Still didn't stop him from putting you down, did it, little sister?"

Her eyes filled with furious tears, unable to dispute his words.

"We can't kill him," Elijah spoke into the silence. "Even if we wanted to."

"Pity," He smirked.

As if he hadn't heard, Elijah continued. "Without the daggers, Niklaus has nothing to use against us. So long as we track down their whereabouts first, our path forward is clear."

It galvanised him. Speaking in hushed tones, making sure their voices were obscured by the thrumming of the engine below them.

Kol had never been afraid of Nik. Never. He knew him too well, like Elijah. All the insecurities, the demons in his past, he knew it all. So why should Niklaus frighten him?

And his brother had hated that confidence. Hated the fact that Kol stared him straight in the eye, daring him to make a move. Unlike Rebekah.

To act afraid now; so timid, so concerned…it rankled.

Listening to the quick, quiet arguments of his siblings behind him, Kol ran his hands over the splintered sides of his unoccupied coffin. His mind racing.

"…I've got a better idea."

He'd never been one for rules.

The movement was swift, no warning.

Spinning on his heel, Kol kicked his coffin solidly in the side.

The box took off, sailing through the air to connect loudly with the other end of the truck.

A noise his hybrid brother would no doubt hear.

"Kol!" Rebekah breathed, furious.

Elijah's posture was tense, angry, as he fixed dark eyes on his own unapologetic form.

Kol shrugged, lips pulled tight in a half-smirk. "I disagreed."

With no signal they were able to see, the truck stopped. Coming to an abrupt halt.

Quick footsteps made short work of rounding the vehicle to get to the truck doors.

All four siblings turned to face the entrance, faces blank.

The grinding sound of metal on metal was the only warning.

The door flung open.

Kol smirked. "Hello brother."