A/N: I am so very sorry for the long wait. I have discovered that real life sucks and all I want to do is move to a deserted island and spend my time sunbathing and writing fanfiction and books... Sadly that is not something that can happen.

Anyway, here you have a chapter, finally!

Almost two weeks after their family outing to the grill Elena walked into the Mikaelson Mansion with a smile. Her and Jenna had had a girls night around a week ago at the Gilbert house with Rebekah, Caroline and Bonnie, where they had planned their revenge on the ones who were stupid enough to prank Bonnie.

They had such a great time, drinking different mixed drinks, eating ice cream and planning 'accidents' and when Elena had told them about her relationship with both Nik and Elijah she had been hugged and supported by her friends.

Rebekah had even squealed in happiness as she hugged Elena and called her sister. Caroline had smirked at her in a peculiar way and refused to say what she meant by the look, no matter how much Elena pestered her about it.

Bonnie and Jenna had been calmer about it and just said that as long as Elena was happy than they were happy for her. Then Jenna had asked if the brothers would be up for family dinner when the whole thing with Stef had been solved.

"Elena?" Finn spoke up, knocking her from her thoughts.

"Hey Finn." Elena smiled at her friend.

"You came." Finn looked relived.

"Of course, I did." Elena assured him. "You're my friend. You call, I come."

"Hello, kitten." Nik walked up to her and kissed her softly.

"Nik." Elena smiled up at him.

"Everyone is gathered in the sitting room." Nik told Finn with a worried look.

Nik had told Elena that he worried for all of his siblings even now when Mikael was dead. One thing that really worried him was that Finn, the last time he had been awake, had been almost suicidal and very depressed. And while he seemed to be happier and feel better now, Nik still worried.

To give Finn a little more time to get his thoughts straight, Elena turned to Rebekah with a sarcastic sympathy smile, "Have you heard about the terrible accident that occurred yesterday evening?"

"Not that I can recall." Rebekah hummed.

"Oh, it was horrible." Elena did her best impression of a gossipy housewife. "Some kids where having a party and the house they were in collapsed, burying them all alive."

"Oh no." Rebekah mocked gasped. "Are the kids okay?"

"No, all of them were DOA." Elena looked down with mock sadness before she looked up and caught Rebekah's eyes and they burst out laughing.

"Did you kill the ones that hurt and pranked Bonnie in such a cruel way?" Elijah asked with a smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Elena denied a hand on her chest like she couldn't believe Elijah could say something like that.

"You did have something to do with it!" Kol laughed loudly.

Elena turned to Kol with a devious smirk on her face, "Nothing you can prove."

Elijah walked up to her and pulled her into a passionate kiss, leaving Elena breathless and tingly all over. When Elijah pulled back, she could see the heat in his eyes and in some ways, she just wanted to tell him to take her to bed but that was not why they were here.

"You can do this Finn, I have complete confidence in you." Elena turned to the eldest Mikaelson and gave him an encouraging smile, knowing what he was about to do.

"What's going on?" Nik asked softly.

"Finn will tell you and your siblings, I'm just here as moral support." Elena patted Nik on the cheek before walking towards the window to give the siblings the room.

"Love." Elijah smiled as she walked past where he was sitting on the couch.

"Lijah." Elena gave a pleasant smile as she softly dragged her fingers over his cheek as she passed.

Nik came over and sat down beside Elijah, smiling over at Rebekah, who was sitting in a plush armchair, and Kol who had sat down on the armrest of the couch.

Finn started to pace back and forth in front of them, wringing his hands and biting his lip before he stopped and turned to look at them. "I need to tell you all something, something that I've kept hidden since Elijah was around six years old if I remember correctly."

"You can tell us anything, brother." Elijah assured him.

"Okay, first you need to know that before we came to live in the village that you all grew up in, I had an older sister." Finn began but was interrupted by Rebekah.

"What?!" Rebekah sat up straighter in her armchair. "Where is she now?!"

"Rebekah, if you just let Finn talk, I'm sure you'll find out." Elena pointed out a bit sternly.

"Right, sorry Finn." Rebekah apologized.

"Her name was Freya and to answer Rebekah's question; I have no idea." Finn gave a tired sigh. "Mother said she died but... I don't know... it feels... wrong, somehow."

Finn was quiet for a while, looking off into the distance until Elena gently called his name. "Finn?"

"Anyway, that wasn't really what I wanted to tell you." Finn shook his head. "I don't really know what happened but father became angrier after Freya's disappearance, he was cold and harsh but it wasn't until Elijah was around six that..."

"What happened?" Elijah asked softly felling dread growing like a rock in his stomach.

"Elijah, you were playing and somehow managed to get mud on a stitched piece of cloth, one of the few things that Freya had made when she was little." Finn stopped to take a breath. "When father came home and found out he was so angry, he started screaming and shouting and I knew that Elijah was scared so I took the blame."

"Finn...?" Elijah asked slowly.

"Father hit me with a switch, over and over and over." Finn closed his eyes. "I woke up the next day to mother treating my wounds and Elijah looking like it was all his fault. That was when I decided that if I could prevent father from hurting Elijah, and later the rest of you, I would do anything and everything in my power. I pulled away from you all so that you wouldn't see the wounds or the pain I was in, so you wouldn't feel guilty."

Elena quietly left the room as the Mikaelsons gathered for a group hug. She walked into the kitchen, which was made up in light granite and dark wood, pulled out a coke form the fridge and walked to onto the patio. As she stood there, contemplating what she was supposed to do to stop Esther the Wicked BitchWitch from the Grave, she didn't notice the butterflies lading on her or around her.

"Elena...?" Elena turned around to look at Elijah, who had called her name, and the other Mikaelson siblings.

"Nice butterfly crown." Rebekah spoke up softly, looking wide eyed around the backyard which was covered in black butterflies.

"Black butterflies are a sign of peaceful death." Elena murmured but she wasn't sure how she knew that.

"Is someone going to die?" Elijah asked as he walked closer to Elena, doing his best to not startle the butterflies.

"No." Elena hummed. "They are just here to meet the heir. Whatever that means."

"That's you love." Nik walked up to her and kissed her softly. "You are Death's chosen daughter, after all."

"Did you know that I can feel you?" Elena hummed softly. "All of you. Every single vampire or 'immortal' on this planet and I can feel you. And it hurts."

"Why does it hurt?" Rebekah asked while Kol asked, "Why do you say immortal in that way?"

"Rebekah at this point in time there are around 3 million vampires in the world right now." Elena smiled sadly. "And I can feel them all. And that's not even counting the other 'immortals'."

"Shit." Rebekah cursed.

"And to answer your question, Kol." Elena turned to him, butterflies still on her head and all around her. "Nothing in this world is truly immortal, Daddy Death wouldn't allow it."

Suddenly she lost sense of time as information started to download into her mind. It could have been seconds or centuries, Elena had no idea, but when she came back to herself Nik and Elijah caught her before she could fall to the ground.

"I hate it when he does that." Elena grumbled.

"What happened, love?" Nik asked gently as he helped her to a chair.

"Daddy Death just gave me an information dump on how to get Stefan back." Elena rubbed her aching forehead.

"Are you just going to keep calling Death that?" Elijah chuckled.

"Absolutely." Elena nodded decisively.

"So how do we get Stefan back?" Nik asked hopefully.

"Well... I'm going to need to kill your mother." Elena shrugged. "Re-kill?"

"Our mother is already dead." Rebekah pointed out slowly.

"For now." Elena nodded. "She is making her way back."

"She is?" Rebekah looked happy and, in some ways, Elena really didn't want to ruin her happiness but she knew she had to.

"Rebekah, she's coming to kill you." Elena placed a hand on Rebekah's cheek. "She's going to try to manipulate Finn into helping."

"Why would she even think I would help her kill my siblings?" Finn gasped outraged. "The ones I have spent my whole life protecting?"

"As I understand it, your mother has been trying to place an obedience curse on you from behind the grave." Elena explained with a frown. "That's why you had such a hard time remembering things in the Forest."

"No, no, no, no." Finn started to pace back and forth, before stopping in front of Elena with desperate eyes. "You have to kill me, okay, before our mother can use me to hurt them."

"Finn..." Elena began.

"Please Elena." Finn interrupted. "I don't want to be a tool in my mother's murderous plans."

"Finnigan Edgar Mikaelson!" Elena said strongly.

Everyone stopped and turned to look at Elena and then Finn tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy, "What did you call me?"

"I had to get your attention and I don't know your full name so I had to improvise." Elena shrugged before smiling. "It worked, didn't it."

"That was awesome." Kol burst out laughing while the others chuckled. "What would you give me a full name?"

"Kolin Maximillian Mikaelson." Elena didn't even have to think about it for long.

"I like it." Kol nodded with a smile.

"Me next." Rebekah bounced in place.

"Rebekah Aurora Mikaelson." Elena hummed.

"Aurora." Rebekah smiled brightly. "That's beautiful."

"It's the name if the Roman Goddess of Sunrise." Elena informed her.

"And me, love?" Nik raised an eyebrow at her.

"Niklaus Merrick Mikaelson." Elena hummed thoughtfully.

"Merrick?" Nik looked curious.

"It means fame and/or power," Elena explained softly.

"One left, darling." Elijah smiled at her.

"Elijah Brian Mikaelson." Elena decided.

"Why Brian?" Rebekah asked slowly. "It seems so... ordinary compared to the ones you gave the rest of us."

"Brian means strong, virtuous, and honorable." Elena almost giggled. "It fits Elijah perfectly."

"It does." Nik chuckled and pulled Elena into a kiss.

"Right." Elena cleared her throat and turned to Finn, "I won't be killing you because Daddy Death sending me to the Forest every time I was close to dying prevented your mother from getting her claws into you."

"Are you sure?" Finn asked hopefully.

"You are protected against your mother through your connection to me." Elena reassured. "And even if that wasn't the case, Daddy Death still wouldn't allow your siblings to die."

"Why not?" Rebekah asked.

"Well, according to Daddy Death, Nik and Elijah are already lightly bound to me, but the moment we... eh... anyway, you get the point." Elena blushed as Kol sniggered and Rebekah giggled. "They will be bound to me and be almost as immortal as I am."

"Wait... you're immortal?" Nik asked with hope shining in his eyes.

"Yes." Elena smiled softly at him. "But not the way you're thinking, but I'll explain to you and Elijah later, okay?"

"Okay, back to the point, what about me and Kol and Finn?" Rebekah wanted to know.

"You are my sister from another mister and I love you as such, just as Finn is my brother from another mother." Elena smiled at them both.

"And Kol?" Finn wondered.

"Well, I don't know Kol but I could see him become like a brother in the future, in more ways then one." Elena shrugged with a smirk. "But otherwise, Kol's Daddy Death's favorite. I actually think he's trying to figure out how to make Kol his high priest or something."

"Death's high priest?" Kol hummed thoughtfully with a smirk. "Sounds awesome, sign me up."

Suddenly Elena stiffened and turned towards the mansion and with a cold, powerful voice, she said, "It is rude to walk into someones house without permission."

"It's my children's house." Esther, who had walked out into the backyard, said.

"Still very rude." Elena pointed out. "What if your children had been indisposed? Having kinky sex? Committing ritualistic murder? Dancing naked in the living room?"

"That... what... no, they wouldn't..." Esther spluttered and Kol started to laugh, which was joined in by Nik's chuckles and Rebekah's giggles.

"What are you doing here, mother?" Finn asked coldly.

"I wanted to see my children." Esther smiled, but Elena could see that it was fake. "I have missed you all."

"You do know that you are breaking the natural order by coming back to the land of the living, don't you?" Elena asked with a raised eyebrow as she leaned against Nik's side while she laced her fingers with Elijah.

"I think I know a little more about the natural order than you do, young one." Esther pointed out like she was talking to a very young child.

"Death is following in your footsteps, just waiting for you to make on wrong move and then... well, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now do I?" Elena smirked and she could hear Death's chuckles in the back of her mind.

Since the witch house, it had gotten easier and less painful to hear Death speaking in her mind. Some nights he would tell her stories of the past, stories that no living being had ever known. Other nights they talked about Elena and what being Death's chosen daughter meant for her.

She knew that she was both more and less immortal than Nik and his siblings. While Nik and his siblings were definitely harder to kill than Elena, Elena would never ever truly die. Her mortal coil, Death's words, could be killed and destroyed, but her soul? That would live on forever. Maybe not in this world, but there was an infinity of worlds out in the multiverse to choose from.

"Are you threatening me, child?" Esther asked in a condescending way.

"No, if I was threatening you, you would know it without a doubt." Elena chuckled as she saw dark tendrils reaching for Esther. "I'm just telling you how it is and if you can't handle the truth, then that's a you problem."

"Are you going to let this... this... trollop talk to me this way?" Esther demanded to know as she looked at her children.

"Well, she's not wrong." Kol smirked.

"Do not call her a trollop, mother." Nik glared. He would defend Elena to anyone and anything. She was the first person to ever fully accept him, murderous bits and all, and she helped him reconnect with his siblings, which he wouldn't never be able to thank her enough for.

"Niklaus..." Esther sighed with a disappointed look on her face. "Are you going to let this... girl, come between you and your family again? Wasn't the whole debacle with Tatia enough?"

"You know nothing of Elena." Elijah spoke up darkly. "She is ten times the person Tatia ever was or ever could be."

Everyone stood still, just watching each other for a long while until a voice spoke up from the entrance to the backyard, "Am I interrupting something?"

"Mason!" Elena called out in happiness and run over to tackle said hybrid in a hug.

"I've missed you Alpha." Mason nuzzled her neck and sighed in content.

"I've missed you too," Elena pulled back with a smile. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the family."

"Alpha." Mason bowed his head to Nik who smiled back.

"Okay, introductions; Family, this is Mason Lockwood, the second hybrid Nik ever made." Elena smiled. "Mason you already know Nik and Elijah, but the young woman next to Nik is their little sister Rebekah, then you have their little brother Kol beside Elijah, and the oldest Mikaelson brother Finn, who is standing by Rebekah."

"It's an honor to meet you all." Mason bowed his head in respect to his Alphas family.

"How do you feel about killing and murder?" Kol asked with a smirk.

Mason looked slightly uncertain but answered anyway, "A good way to bond and work out aggression."

"I think we are going to get along great." Kol hummed before he turned serious. "But if I ever meet your relative, Tyler Lockwood? He will probably wish for death when I'm done for what he did to Jeremy."

"First off, I think what he did was a shitty thing and I haven't talked to him since he told me." Mason shrugged before smirking at Kol. "And second: How sure are you that there will be any pieces left for you when Elena is done with him?"

"Hmm, you are right about that." Kol chuckled and Elena looked pleased.

"Are you all going to just ignore me?" Esther asked sounding annoyed. "And why wasn't I introduced?"

"I didn't introduce you because you are not family." Elena stated simply as she watched Finn walk closer to them.

"Hello, I'm Finn, it's a pleasure to meet you." Finn held out his hand towards Mason.

"I'm Mason, and the pleasure is mine." Mason smiled and... was that a blush Elena could hint on his cheeks?

"An bhfuil siad maité?" Elena wondered to herself.(Are they mates?)

"No, vampires don't have set mates." Death whispered in her mind. "What they do have is people that compliments them and their personality."

"So, they have 'potential' mates?" Elea felt confusion, wasn't a mate and someone who compliments them basically the same thing?

"Both yes and no." Death said and chuckled as he could feel Elena's annoyance at his answer. "What that means is that Finn and Mason could be like two puzzle pieces, fitting together perfectly, if they allow themselves to walk that path, but it also wouldn't destabilize and detort the image of the whole picture if they don't walk that path."

"So, what you're saying is that they could be wonderful together but they also have the possibility to find the same thing with someone else if they don't want to be together?" Elena tried to clarify and understand.

"In simple terms? Yes." Death hummed.

"Thanks for explaining, dad." Elena smiled softly.

"You are very welcome, my daughter." Death sent happiness at her before disappearing form her mind.

"You okay, love?" Nik asked and Elena focused back on him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Elena smiled, before smirking. "I was just thinking of my dad."

"No wonder you were out of it for a while." Elijah smiled, knowing she meant that she had talked to Death but not wanting Esther to know.

"We should have a ball." Esther declared, seemingly tired of being ignored.

"Mother, we do not need to have a ball." Kol groaned while tipping his head backwards.

"So, you don't want the opportunity to see Jeremy in a tailored suit?" Elena asked 'innocently'.

"Oh." Kol looked off into the distance before smirking. "Mother is right, we should have a ball."

"You are so gone on that boy, little brother." Elijah chuckled.

"Oh, but Lijah, dear brother of mine, Jeremy is the most beautiful boy I have ever seen in my entire, very long, life." Kol said as he walked off towards the mansion. "He completes me in ways I didn't know were possible."

"And here I was thinking that Elijah was the poet and Nik the artist, but it seems like you are catching up fast." Finn hummed as he followed Kol, Rebekah and Mason walking with him.

"We only have on slight problem if you guys are throwing a ball." Elena looked up at Nik and Elijah.

"What's that, darling?" Elijah smiled at her.

"I have nothing to wear!" Elena groaned.

"That's easily solved, my love." Nik kissed her before lifting her into his arms and running into the mansion at vampire speed, Elena's laughter bouncing of the walls.

XOXOXOX

It was the night of the ball and Elena couldn't wait. Sure, she wanted to show Elijah and Nik the dress she had chosen to wear, but she looked forwards to killing Esther once and for all a lot more.

Esther had thought herself sneaky by stealing some of Elena's blood when she was sleeping in Elijah's bed while the Mikaelson siblings were out bonding and showing Kol and Finn the new century.

What Esther didn't now though, was that thanks to Death, Elena's blood couldn't be used in any ritual whatsoever without Elena's permission. It was as useful as chocolate syrup really and it made Elena smirk at Esther every time she saw her.

"Lena, can you help me with this?" Jeremy walked into her room as she was putting the finishing touches on her makeup.

"Of course." Elena beamed as she saw Jeremy, he was dressed in black formal pants, black dress shirt and a black and white corset vest with gold accents that Elena had bought for him. "You look really handsome, Jere-Bear."

"Really? You think Kol will like it?" Jeremy looked hopeful, before turning his back towards her. "Could you tie it?"

"Sure. And Kol is going to have a hard time keeping his hands of off you." Elena giggled.

When Elena had tied Jeremy's corset, he turned to walk out so Elena could put on her shoes. He stopped in the doorway and turned to his sister with a smile. "I really like your makeup, Lena, and that dress is stunning."

"Thank you, little brother." Elena smiled shyly, feeling happy and excited.

After Jeremy had left and Elena had put on her shoes, she turned to look at herself in the mirror. Jenna had helped her put her hair up in a half up half down hairstyle, with strands framing her face beautifully. Her makeup was simple, the only thing really standing out was the blue, winged, eyeliner.

The dress was a light violet, with rhinestones over her chest and along her waist, with a flowing skirt, and she watched the dress with a pair of white, high heeled shoes, that had flowers and rhinestones along the side.

Forty minutes later she met Elijah and Nik in the entrance hall of the mansion, both of them looking very handsome in their suits.

"You look stunning, my love." Nik whispered as he kissed her softly.

"He's right." Elijah kissed her after Nik had pulled back. "You look radiant."

"You two don't look so bad yourselves." Elena blushed before turning to Nik with a frown. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Nik asked.

"I can see the sadness in your eyes." Elena pointed out kindly.

"Our mother hasn't been very kind to Nik since she got here." Elijah admitted, looking at his younger brother with concern.

"I don't need her anyway." Nik declared offering his arm to Elena. "I've got my siblings and I've got you."

"Always." Elena promised as she accepted his arm with her left while grabbing on to Elijah's arm with her right. "And by the way, you can't be sad because sad backwards is das and das not good."

Nik and Elijah looked at her and she smiled brightly making them burst out laughing at her being ridiculous. Elijah kissed her softly before whispering, "Never change, Elena."

The evening progressed, filled with dancing and laughter. Elena managed to dance with Elijah and Nik the most, for obvious reasons, but she also managed to snag a dance with Damon, Enzo, Jeremy, Finn, Kol and Mason.

Most of the evening Damon looked like he was lost in Enzo completely. Nothing and no one could knock him out of it, and Elena felt happy for them both. Thiers was a love she would love to write books about... maybe she could. Change a few details, like names, places and things like that, and Elena could write a love story of the ages. She decided to ask them first before she started writing, but she had already started on the book in her head.

"Elena." Jenna knocked her out of her thoughts by hugging her.

"Aunt Jenna." Elena smiled and hugged back. "You look stunning."

"Thank you." Jenna blushed as she looked down at her plum colored ballgown.

"Everything set up for later?" Elena asked casually but a flash of black over her eyes gave away that thee question wasn't to innocent.

"Everything is ready, the only thing missing are the guests of honor." Jenna smirked darkly.

"How is Alaric handling everything?" Elena wanted to know.

"He's having a bit of a hard time letting go of his 'The world is black and white' thought process but I think we're getting there." Jenna hummed thoughtfully.

"If everyone could gather, please." Elijah spoke up from where he was standing on the staircase with his family. "Welcome and thank you all for joining us."

Elena did her best not to sneer and glare at Esther as she walked down the stairs with Stef at her side. 'Smile while you can, but your final death creeps closer and closer.' Elena thought with a smirk.

"You know, whenever my mother brings our family together like this, it's tradition for us to commence the evening with a dance." Elijah explained and both him and Nik sent smile Elena's way. "Tonight's pick is a centuries-old waltz, so if all of you could please find yourselves a partner, please join us in the ballroom."

A few moments later Nik and Elijah were standing in front of her and Jenna, smiling at them both.

"Miss. Jenna, would you honor me by sharing this dance with me?" Elijah asked kindly as he held out a hand towards her.

"It would be a pleasure." Jenna chuckled while accepting Elijah's hand.

"Elena, would you like to dance?" Nik offered his hand, looking nervous and a little awkward.

"I would love to." Elena beamed, knowing that whatever Esther had been saying to Nik had fed into his insecurities and made him doubt himself.

The rest of the evening flowed along on a cloud of happiness and anticipation for Elena. She managed to get happiness into Nik's eyes with stupid jokes and dark humor, and Nik told her that she had made his siblings laugh to because apparently they had been listening in.

As the clock started to approach midnight Elena heard Death whisper in her mind, 'Get ready'.

"I need to get some air." Elena excused herself from Nik, which was the signal that everything was about to go down.

"Alright, love." Nik kissed her to hide his smirk.

Elena walked out of the mansion, feeling the breeze against her arms. She walked in a way that might seem purposeless but she knew exactly what she was doing. She just managed to suppress a smirk as she felt Stef walk up behind her and knock her out.

XOXOXOX