Ash and Roses (Kol)

[Isabella Le Moyne]

Isabella hadn't felt anything like it before, at least not in the last century of watching from the other side of the Veil. It was well, actual feeling. She opened her eyes and diffused evening sunlight was pouring into them, her red hair cascaded on the ground around her as she woke up on the ground of the Mystic Falls Cemetery. Her whole body hurt, and she had a splitting pain in her neck. Pain? That was new. She had been dead so long there was never pain, now there was. What was she doing in this town anyway? She had been here maybe once or twice as a child but she knew nothing about it. Just that her father sometimes did business with the people there. She sat up,
pulling a leaf from her hair. Was she, back? Isabella knew that that was a possibility but only with the strongest of witches, though maybe someone else was pulling the strings? She had no idea. She couldn't remember at the moment anyway. The sun was sinking lower in the trees and as she stood up and smoothed her long skirt she looked around in confusion. Some of the dates on these tombstones were many years from the time that she had died. She was going to stick out like a sore thumb in this town.

Isabella frowned, trying to get her bearings and figure out what to do. She knew no one in this time or this town, though she was certain that Klaus and Elijah were likely to be around still, she did not want to go near them. Kol, perhaps? Was he alive again since she was? She thought he had been on the other side with her, but someone was trying to keep them apart. There was always some dark force that seemed to keep them away from each other in that place. It had frustrated her. Perhaps it was because they had died in seperate places? She mainly only saw New Orleans. Perhaps that was why she could not find her beloved on that plane. She knew that the doppleganger had killed him, she had been keeping watch over him, but if she was back, maybe someone brought her back for a reason, and the only one who could possibly care enough to bring her back would be him, unless Klaus was planning to try to use her in some way, that mere thought gave her a horrid feeling in her stomach.

Taking a deep breath she started walking through the cemetery, looking at headstones. She sat down on the steps of the Salvatore monument, and ran her hands through her hair, closing her eyes. She still had magic, that she could feel. Could she use it to call someone to her? Concentrating hard, she reached out with her mind, searching for Kol. If he was still dead, she would be able to possibly make contact now that she was alive and in the town he died in. If he was alive, she would be able to reach him too, but it would be difficult either way. Hopefully her magic was as good as it used to be, reaching out with every ounce of strength she had she called out to him in her minds eye, "Kol...are you there? Find me please...the cemetery...Mystic Falls...please find me..." she kept trying praying to her ancestors and those of the Bennet line to help her. " I'm so confused.." she rubbed at her temples as she tried to concentrate, but she didn't know where to go...or what to do next.

[Kol Mikaelson]

Kol was killing everything in his path. Literally racking up kills quicker than the bodies could hit the ground. Rather...the simulated ground. Kol had been exposed to this whole gaming thing before he died the second time and it just sort of stuck. It wasn't as satisfying as taking the life of a living breathing human of course, but it had its own charms. There was always something new to pop up on the screen or some level he hadn't seen coming, there was a certain charm to it. It also helped of course that he could run the control insanely fast. He had just made it to the next level when he heard her. 

She was beckoning him, demanding he seek her. He would know her voice among thousands, past the span of decades and death. He didn't know how it was possible but he was dropping the controller and running towards the graveyard as fast as he could go. He had been resurrected from the dead barely a month and things were so very different. His brothers and sisters who he once viewed as family and life were now something he didn't trust nor have compassion for. Elena Gilbert...there was a revenge he was looking forward to enacting upon, one his so-called family had looked over. Perhaps they had enjoyed the time he was gone. He didn't care, all he cared about was that he was back on the Earth, alive and free with the knowledge of who people truly were, not their facades they all loved to play. 

He had made it to the graveyard she had beckoned from, arriving there in a mere few minutes and found her instantly. It was as if she had never left him, as if he had never seen her crimson blood spilling against her lavender dress the night she was taken from him. " Isabella." He breathed her name as if it were a prayer, which he supposed it had been. " How? I mean I tried reaching out to the few contacts I had here and they said you weren't reachable. I assumed you had made it to something better, you always deserved something...better." Walking to her he extended his hand and grazed her cheek gently, hesitantly as if she might vanish at any given second " My darling it's been so long." 

[Isabella Le Moyne]

He arrived so quickly, just as if she had called out to him from across the room, not across a town. It was like it used to be. They always were there for one another. He was at her side so quickly she almost forgot that it was a future world that she knew nothing of. It was nothing more than she and Kol and the many stolen moments they used to have in New Orleans together over a century ago. His face was just as she remembered it, just as she always saw it in her minds eye when she thought of him. Her darling Kol, her love. She remembered what the night had been like when they were taken from each other. Elijah holding him, Rebekah betraying them both, Niklaus biting her and breaking her neck in front of Kol as her favorite dress was covered in her blood in front of her beloved. Yes, that night would forever exist in her mind, even if she was once again among the living. She wore the dress now, even the stain of the blood ran on the fabric. It was an odd feeling.

" I never wanted anything but you my love. I would have gladly given up my magic to be with you for eternity." she leaned into his touch, her long lashes fluttering against her pale cheeks. " I do not know how I have been brought back to this world. I was beyond the veil, in New Orleans, it was all so grey and dreary. I was always searching for you, I heard tell you had been killed, an original vampire actually killed. I even knew of your brother Finn's demise, but I never found you. Nor did I ever see him. It was as if I was shielded from you, unable to reach out to you. " she frowned. " I do not know how it happened, how I am in this world with you now." she had a feeling that someone wanted something from her, but what that was, she was unsure of. " I though perhaps your older brothers were up to something, but I have heard nothing from anyone as of yet. I just reached out for you the moment I could." she placed a hand on his chest, right above his heart. " You were no longer shielded from me. So someone must have done something to make this happen."

He eyes looked up into his, her heart beating like a hummingbirds wings inside her chest. " I have missed you so much my love." She wanted so badly to be in his arms once more. She always felt so safe and loved when she was with him, even when they were working hard to make her powerful enough to help turn a dagger into gold to bring down Niklaus. She always felt safe, protected, wanted and loved with her Kol. When she could no longer control herself, she ran her hands through his hair and pulled him gently to her, kissing him. It was as if no time had passed, a century was nothing for an immortal, and surely nothing for the dead. Though, she was no longer dead, and she had another chance to help her Kol to acheive his goals. She had nothing else in this world but him. When their lips parted she looked up at him, " I no longer fit in this world, I believe you are going to have to help me with that...if you are but willing."

[Kol Mikaelson]

When she had spoken he closed his eyes briefly, savoring each word that came from her lips.With his eyes closed he could almost pretend they were in New Orleans. He could reminisce about a time but simpler yet somehow more complex than this one. When she and the witches were the only ones he could trust. When she used to lay in his arms and they would talk about their future together, a safe future without his brother destroying everything they loved. She had been the first one to see past his murderous nature, the first to make him believe there was more to himself than bloodlust and violence. 
" I wouldn't put it past my family to ensure we were kept apart even in death but somehow I don't think they're the responsible parties for this. I was able to come through the veil as well but there was no one to greet me, I think whatever is happening is bigger than my family." He hadn't honestly thought much about it. He was dead and then he was brought back, simple as that. He didn't care who or what was to blame no matter if they intended to destroy the world and everything in it, he could breathe and walk again and that was all that mattered to him. At least that was before Isabella. With her back, he would fight man or beast to ensure she stayed back and stayed with him. 

His mind working quickly he caressed her cheek, looking deep into her eyes " I don't intend to lose you again my darling. I watched your death over and over again when I was laying in that coffin. I swore I would get my revenge, I swore I would get you back but I can't risk losing you again. Let's leave." He swallowed hard and took her hands in his " I think something big is happening and I don't want you near it, I can't watch you die again." He knew no one knew about her, they could run, they could leave and never look back and start their life together, the life they had always dreamed of. 

When she pulled him towards her kissing his lips he moaned softly, longingly. He wanted her very badly, it had been long, much too long. Kol kissed her deeply, running his hands through her hair and slowly, gently pulling her towards him. Her smell was intoxicating and filled the air around him. It was a magical scent of magnolia and jasmine and it lured him in like a spell. He had just begun trailing kisses from her jaw to her neck when she mentioned she was completely out of place in this time. Between kisses he spoke "my Darling you will adapt easily, you're smart....and...kind...and beautiful and..." His body leaned in closer to hers wanting to remove any space that was holding them apart.

[Isabella Le Moyne]

In the time that she had known Kol in her previous life, she knew that he had a temper, a rage burning at all times. Though she had also seen his caring side. The side that was so gentle and loving towards her. How he worked hard to care for not only her but her sister witches as they all worked together to try to take down the evil that was his brother. Yet, his family had once and for all intervened to a point that they were unable to stop him. As much as the others had complained about Klaus and his cruelty they still blindly backed their brother, and not the one they should have been backing. They should have been on Kol's side to begin with. He was the one that was trying to end the terror that was Niklaus, and they had just let it go on as if it was no big deal. If Isabella was to see them again, she didn't know what she would do, but it would not be kind words and tea and cookies.

" So you think that someone else has brought us back, together, for a purpose? If I was to come back it should have been in New Orleans, so since its here, there has to be a bigger purpose that we have yet to see." she frowned, looking into the dark eyes of Kol wondering what they had gotten themselves dragged into now. " Perhaps someone needs us to complete the task we once were on the path of before your family intervened?" she wondered if that was why they were back, someone wanted them to take down Klaus for real this time. Though that too felt like it might not be the case. Something told her something much bigger than the Original family was at work here, though what that was they would have to wait to see. " I will not allow your family to tear us apart again. I will do all I can to protect myself, and you. No one is going to kill you again, not as long as I can find the right spell to protect your properly." she had an extremely serious look on her face, she would find a spell to protect Kol from those cursed daggers, and the white oak if she could help it.

" Leave? Where should we go?" she had no idea about anything in this world now. At least the darkness was falling so she could pass easily through town and find some clothes that better befitted this time period. Preferably some without blood stains on them. Then they could pass through this town and get the hell out of here and run. They could run for as long as they needed to to get away from whatever the darkness was that was settling on this town. She had a feeling of foreboding in her chest from the moment she opened her eyes. Something very dark was dealing in Mystic Falls. " I can feel lit, theres magic, a dark and old magic, but I don't know where it is coming from. Something is very wrong here Kol." she wrapped her fingers in his shirt suddenly feeling very frightened. Though all was forgotten in their kiss.

The feeling of his lips on hers was so familiar, so perfect. She felt a warmth spread through her body as their lips formed over each other and she just didn't want the moment to end. She wrapped her arms tighter around him as their kiss deepened, "You will have to teach me all I need to learn." she felt their bodies melding together as one, and she didn't stop him. They had been apart for far too long, and she didn't want to spend one more second without him. Nothing compared to moments like this.

[Kol Mikaelson]

Kol didn't want to give into any kind of thinking that involved himself and Isabella in any kind of plot. They had done that once before in another life and it hadn't proved fruitful on their end. They weren't alone either, there had been a whole coven of witches at the ready and being trained to take down his brother. He had been so sure of himself, so confident in his mission that he hadn't seen the kinks in his armor. He hadn't taken the time to truly study what he was doing, evaluate it from every angle. Hindsight was 20/20 they had always said and it was in his coffin, staked and desiccating for what felt like eons he could finally see where he had gone wrong. It was his family, it was always his family. They were a toxic scourge on the earth and he would never allow himself to care for any of the monsters again. " I'm not sure, I had to fight to get out. I honestly didn't know if I had the strength but it seems as if your experience was a bit more different?" It was possible that someone had wanted to get her out and perhaps weakened the veil, but if that was true then it still begged the question why and if he had been able to escape who else could too? 

When she brought up their first task he shook his head " I don't care if they did. That cannot happen my darling. I can't have you on the murderous side of my family again. They cannot be stopped, they are a deadly disease for which there is no cure. I won't have you in danger again." When Isabella's brilliant eyes met his he felt his pulse quickening. She was light and beauty and wonderment and he had missed her so dearly. She had mentioned that she would protect him and he found himself smiling. She was strong, incredibly so. She had been much more powerful than he had been as a former witch but he wasn't sure even she could protect either of them from what was coming. " My darling I have no doubt in that but we have no idea what we're up against. We have no idea who or what is causing this and the quicker I can get you away the easier I'll breathe." When she asked where he took her hand in his " Anywhere. Everywhere. We may have to keep running but at least we'll be together. It's been so long we could go back to New Orleans without raising much suspicion. Paris. Greece. Wherever you wanted." He knew it was a terrible life he was offering her, but if it meant their safety then he would make it so and he would do what he could to make their life one she deserved. 

Isabella had wrapped her fingers around his shirt and he felt those old familiar yet foreign feelings surface. Yes, there was evil here, he knew she was right but the less involved they got the less they would need to worry about it. " Do you sense anyone else? A pull or a feeling almost...." He tried remembering what it had felt like when his mother had summoned him from the grave all those years ago " Almost as if there was an invisible line connected from somewhere in your chest to theirs? Like if they tugged hard and strong enough you'd be pulled alongside them?" He hoped she would say no, he was never the praying sort but if there was a moment to be praying then this would have been it. If she was linked to someone or something there would be no running. There would be no freedom. There wasn't a point when she would constantly feel a yearning toward this place, a pull towards it. She would remain here and of course so would he. 

She had melted into him then. Her body like liquid fire, a fire he wanted or perhaps needed would have been a more accurate word. His lips had kissed her skin, not missing an inch he traveled hungrily searching for more to take in, more to make his. Slowly he began sliding his hand down her body, slipping it under the delicate fabric that separated her skin from his. Looking into her eyes hungrily he paused a moment, his body pressed  hard against hers, eager to join them " If you want to stop I understand....." Waiting for her reply, his breathing coming quick and heavy he couldn't help putting his lips back on her again. The seconds melting into nothing but the two of them together again. 

[Isabella Le Moyne]

Something had brought her back, that much she knew. She didn't have to fight to get out like Kol was saying he did. So something had brought her back for a reason, and she was not too thrilled about the idea of being indebted to someone. Who it was, she had no idea, but she didn't like it at all. " No, I didn't have to fight at all, I just, woke up here. It is so strange. The feeling is wrong. I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth though, someone brought me back to you. I will be grateful even if its someone wanting to use me for ill. At least they brought me back to you. Kol, I'm scared." she hadn't felt truly terrified in a very, very long time. Kol would protect her as she would him. That much she knew. Thought it was still frightenening to not know how or why you were brought back into the world of darkness that was this plane. If she could be happily on the other side of the veil with Kol this time, she would be ecstatic. Though Kol might not have been. He was made a vampire to escape death. She wouldn't take that from him. Though she did envy it. Perhaps if she was a vampire she would not have the issue of constantly being used by those that were. Though she would not ask him to do that unless he wanted to first. She may have said something about doing it if he wanted to, but that was it. She was so afraid of losing him again.

" I can find some vervain to protect myself from them if you wish. Put it inside my necklace again if I have to. That way they can not compel me." she touched the locket around her neck, one he had given to her a century ago. The vervain inside was long dead and withered to the point it would not be able to protect her anymore, but if she found some it would be easily remedied. She wouldn't ingest the plant, because if she were to do that and Kol needed her blood for any reason it would harm him. She would never do that. As he spoke of leaving she nodded, getting away from all of this might be a much better idea than any other. If they could run from his family, from his brother, she would feel safer. She knew that Klaus would probably attempt to destroy her once more if he knew she was alive, since she knew the spells they needed to create the gold dagger, but she could feign innocence on that if she were to get the vervain so that he couldn't use it against her. " Paris, you know I always wanted to go to the land of my ancestors." her fathers family was from Paris originally, and she would love to visit, or even live out her life there if she could. " I would love that. So very much." she wanted to get out of here, not be used by anyone if she could help it. It wasn't going to be easy to get away if they knew whatever they had done brought her back. Though at the same time, why was the person who brought her back not looking for her. That was why she thought Kol or his family had something to do with it. He was the only one that had arrived upon her awakening.

At his question she realized what he was saying. That odd feeling she had felt from the moment she woke up was the person who had called her back. It wasn't so much her pull towards Kol, though that was there too. There was another feeling, one of deep foreboding and almost evil that was connecting her to something, to someone in this God forsaken place. " yes, I feel that." she looked up at him, pure fear and absolute terror in her eyes. She couldn't leave, if she tried, well it wouldn't go well for her. " Kol, I'm stuck here." she tried her best not to cry. She felt her body shaking, but she couldn't let it control her. " What do we do? I can't just leave, it could be disastorous if I do. This feeling its, pure evil Kol. I can feel that anger that, feeling of death. Much stronger than I ever even felt from your brother. I don't think you family had something to do with this. I think its something else. Something much darker, and even, older." she shook her head and tried to clear it. They needed to find a way to disconnect her from that force.

As his hands travelled over her body it made her forget the fear, forget the feelings in her stomach that she had a purpose that she had yet to, or might ever understand. Right now, all she wanted was to forget it all, and concentrate on nothing but the fact that for the first time in a century she was in the arms of the man she loved more than anything in the world. Her lips found his again and she looked into his eyes, " I've missed you so much Kol." She allowed him to take the lead and followed, allowing nothing but the feeling of them once again together to enter her mind, body and soul. For the first time in forever ,she felt home.

[Kol Mikaelson]

When Isabella said she hadn't had to fight Kol's heart sank a bit. There was nothing natural about coming back from the dead and if she was able to simply wake up here then that meant there were other forces who willed it so. That meant there was someone out there who knew exactly who Isabella was and what she was capable of. Holding her close to him he gently made a shushing sound " It's alright my darling. We will survive this, we must. There's no need to be afraid, not when we're together. We were ambushed, betrayed. We will not make that mistake again." He kissed the top of her head gently.

When she spoke of the necklace he had given her so long ago he touched it tenderly. There was nothing it could do to help her now of course but it was still beautiful upon her neck. He remembered the day he had given it to her. They had just made love and she was still laying in his arms. He had put it around her neck, kissing her delicate skin before letting her hair fall back down around them. " Portez ceci et sachez que mon coeur va avec vous où que vous soyez." Reciting what he had said to her the first time he had given it to her a moment before meeting her eyes " If you can't find any let me know and I'll check around town though I don't think you'll have much issue. The witch population is strong here, I felt it the moment I came back." 

When she agreed to go to Paris with him he smiled brightly. They had talked of such romantic things, travel, laughter and love. They had planned a future before his family shattered those dreams. " As you wish my darling. We can go anywhere you only need say the word." He would indulge her every whim, her every want. He delighted in seeing her face light up, her eyes that sparkled and danced when she laughed. 

The happiness he had felt moments ago were dashed however when she confirmed his deepest fear: she was tied to someone. Whoever it was that brought her back had a claim on her life, a claim she wouldn't be able to shake or ignore. He listened to her speaking, her words sending a shiver of fear down his spine. She was tied to something evil, something they hadn't fought before. Something that was quite possibly stronger than his wretched family. As her words began to turn to panic he held her to him, willing his voice to remain calm " It's alright, Paris has been there since the 3rd century, it can remain a bit longer. We are alright, we will make it through whatever this is and we will come out on the other side together." He pressed his forehead to hers, his brown eyes piercing hers "I promise you my darling. We will survive this." 

The fear melted into something more, something needed and he let himself get lost in her. There would be time to face and plan for whatever was coming for her, but that time was not now. Right now all that existed was her skin against his, her hair falling in his face and her lips upon his.