A/N: had this one mostly written after i posted the last chapter and i got inspired to keep it going! enjoy y'all and please review!

Disclaimer: I only own Gabby!

Heart Strings
Chapter 16: Helpless

"Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties,"

-Aesop

Songs:

Civil Twilight-Fire Escape (Kol and Gabby)

"Would you stop that?" Gabby snapped as Kol tugged on another lock of her hair.

After Kol had told her about his brother, he'd gone quiet. He'd silently picked her up and jumped out through the hole he'd made in the ground above them, leading her back to his village. She'd attempted to draw him into conversation, but had failed to do so yet.

Gabby sat criss cross on a bed of what seemed to be furs and blankets in the corner of the hut he'd deemed his family's, thinking of all the ways for her to possibly get her out of here.

Kol sat next to her, long legs stretched out past her body and broad shoulders pressed into the wall of his home. He'd been grumpily tugging on her hair every so often, feigning sleep when she would whip around.

Another tug came. Gabby grit her teeth, winding her fingers into her sweater.

"Kol, I swear-,"

"You're thinking too loudly," he said simply. "Stop it."

"I'm thinking too loudly," she repeated, disbelief clear in her tone as she turned her upper body to face him. "Are you not worried at all? You still haven't told me anything! I'm not an idiot, Kol, I know I'm not going to wake up."

He simply stared at her, eyes dark and jaw locked. "Have you thought, Gabriella," he said lowly. "Maybe I don't know what happened?"

"Please," she scoffed. "You haven't touched me once. You haven't hurt me, tried to kill me. I smell blood the way you do, I feel every single thing you feel. You said if you snapped my neck we would both die. She did something to us and you know what it is."

His hand came up, making her flinch away in fear of being struck. He grimaced at her response, simply wrapping her hair around one large hand and pulling it away from her neck and over her shoulder. What he saw on the back of her neck made his gaze darken further. His finger shortly rubbed at her raw skin, making her hiss lightly in pain.

"You don't know what it says, do you?" he asked. Gabby reached her own hand back, tracing the etched symbols into her skin, trying to read it.

"No," she said finally, dropping her hand with a sigh. "But you do."

Kol reached out, dragging his finger through the dirt ground of the hut. He made quick, short strokes in the dirt, pulling his hand away when he was done. She stared at what he wrote, brows furrowed since it seemed so familiar-

Gabby thought back to the cave, the writing's on the wall.

ᛣᚩᛚ

The runes he wrote matched one of the one's on the wall, she was sure of it, but that meant-

Kol

Driving back to Mystic Falls with a dead body-let alone her little sister's dead body-was something Elena never thought she would do.

"How do we go about contacting Klaus?" Elena asked, breaking the silence. Elijah chanced a glance her way, noticing how she kept her gaze steadfast on the road, avoiding any chance of looking in the backseat or catching a glimpse of a mirror.

"I'll handle that," Elijah replied shortly. "You're problem will be handling your tiresome Salvatores, if you are still insistent on telling them."

"I can't keep it from them," she sighed. "With Gabby like this, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't think I can keep anything from anyone anymore. I think I'm gonna have to tell Jenna."

"I admire your dedication to your sister, Elena," Elijah said softly. "I am sorry for the position I have put both of you in."

Elena turned her head, smiling half heartedly.

"It's not your fault, Elijah," she said, convinced, "it's that witch, Hazel. If we want to be even more accurate, it's Klaus's fault."

Elijah returned her smile, fixing her with his eyes. "I swear to you, Elena, on the lives of my family, I will do everything in my power to help Gabriella."

She nodded, returning her gaze to the road, neither of them noticing as Gabby's body jerked.

"That's your name," Gabby said slowly. He watched her carefully, elbows now propped up on his knees, nodding jerkily as she looked at him. Her eyes jumped between him and his name written into the ground, her hand subconsciously going to the back of her neck as she traced the symbols she now knew was his name.

"Why's your name on my neck, Kol?" she asked, voice shaking as she barely kept it together. He grit his teeth, not wanting to speak it aloud, knowing it would truly hit him then.

"Kol," she repeated, moving to sit on her knees. "Your name. On my neck. Why?"

"We're connected," he said simply. Gabby burst.

"I knew that already!" she shrieked, yanking under her shirt to pull out the necklace Hazel had forced around her neck. "This fucking piece of junk is what started all of this in the first place!"

"That was temporary, Gabriella," he lolled his head. "Think of this as a more permanent situation."

"How permanent?" she asked helplessly, tears already building in her eyes. Kol grimaced at the sight, and at the feeling of overwhelming confusion welling in his chest, courtesy of the young girl sitting on her knees next to him, looking to him for answers. Kol really hated being depended upon.

"If you die, I die," he began, voice low. "If you get hurt, I get hurt. When I feed, you smell it, taste it, feel it. When you cry," he spat the word out as if he was disgusted, "I feel your sadness. We are connected in every way, Gabriella. Every emotion, sensation, down to the wire."

Gabby thought to the sensation that's been lingering with her since they arrived in this limbo. A deep pit, in the back of her throat and bottom of her stomach, one that if she lingered on for too long she would start to cry. So much pain was trapped inside of this man, this vampire, a thousand years of suffering and all of it would be bestowed upon a fifteen year old girl?

Subconsciously her hand travelled to the nape of her neck again, tears finally falling as she stared into his eyes. His eyes, full of arrogance and aggression, beautiful wells of amber. She saw the pain lingering in his gaze, she felt it as if was standing on her lungs with a boot made of steel.

Kol's eyes widened as she dug her hand into her own neck, flinching as pain blossomed at the bottom of his own neck.

"Stop!" he yelled, throwing himself over her as she began to scratch at his name, drawing blood from the already sensitive wound. He easily ripped her hands away, trapping them under her own body as he straddled her while she screamed and cried, trying to buck him off.

"I don't want it, Kol, please," she sobbed, shoulders wriggling as he put all of his weight on her. "Get it off, please, I don't want it."

"It's not that simple, you naïve little girl," he growled, ducking low so they were face to face. "You think I want this? To be bound to a tiny, fragile human girl when I'm daggered? Gabriella, you have no idea how vulnerable this makes me. I'm an Original, a vampire, I cannot die. But bound to you, and your tiny little mortal life, I can. And I am not even awake to defend myself from my enemies. Now you tell me, which one of us has it worse?"

Gabby shook silently under him, continuing to sob as he stared at her, gaze brimmed with rage. She felt his anger, his wrath boiling under his skin, bleeding into her and tugging at her heart.

"You did this to me," she whispered, hiccuping for air. "You did this to us. This is your fault, Kol. Your witch is desperate for something, and she dragged me into it. I'm just a kid. I didn't ask for this."

He finally released her wrists, hand going to her jaw and gripping hard enough to make her wince.

"Neither of us did, Gabriella," he hummed. "But you do not see me complaining, do you? Now stop your incessant blubbering, it's getting on my nerves." With that, he finally climbed off of her, falling onto the ground next to her, head cushioned by his arm. They laid together for several minutes, Gabby trying her best to control her crying but failing miserably.

Gabby was so lost, desperate for the comfort of her sister or brother. She didn't know the next time she would ever see them, or Caroline, or Stefan, or Jenna or Alaric. She was stuck in this imaginary hell, locked into the mind of an Original. She didn't know she would last with a psychotic vampire as her only company, her only tether to some semblance of humanity.

She remembered what Kol had said to her once. How she was lucky she was able to leave, while he was stuck, never coming and never going. Just still. For years on end, left to his own devices in his own darkness, anger stewing. She desperately hoped she would not be subjected to the same amount of time as him.

"Kol," she said hesitantly, voice still fragile, not daring to turn her head and look at him. She waited until he grunted in response before continuing. "When were you daggered?"

"The year?" he checked. He felt her nod against his shoulder. "1909."

Elijah had finally relinquished Elena's phone to her, allowing her to message Stefan and Damon. Safe to say, they were not happy.

"Where the hell are you?" Damon had said upon immediately accepting her call.

"Elena, are you okay?" Stefan added. "What about Gabby?"

Elena's breath stuttered. "I'm fine," she told them, voice quiet. "I'm with Elijah, we're on our way back."

Both brothers were silent, not missing the underlying meaning. "Elena," Stefan called. "Where's Gabby?"

A/N: and we'll leave it there for today. lmk what y'all thought! love ya peace

Reviews:

QuirkyMurderSubject: Aw thank you! I'm really sorry about the long wait, life's been kicking my butt. I'm really excited to begin expanding on their relationship and how Kol is gonna have to be on equal standing with her. I'm really excited to get everything going and have them be awake and interact with everyone else, but that won't be for a while yet (although they might not be alone for long ;)) I hope some of the dialogue in this chapter answered your questions when it comes to sensations, and when it comes to sex and Damon snapping Kol's neck, well, we'll have to see hehe. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too, thanks for reviewing!

WickedlyMinx: Aw thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too!

manypies: Thank you! I'm excited you're enjoying the story, I hope you liked this one too!