Fanfic: Harshness of the Seasons (5/10)
Title: Harshness of the Seasons
Rating: R
Author:
terapsina
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing/Characters: Elijah/Elena, Elijah, Katherine, Klaus, Elena.
Word Count: 4'539
Parts: 5/10
Summary: AU To those who know the story of the making of vampires Elena will be remembered as the girl who was sacrificed for the plague they became. But in Elijah's memory she will always be the wife he loved and lost to his parents' desperation. All that he now has left is the wane hope that the body Ayanna preserved will one day wake as she promised. Elejah
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
WARNING: If the way Caroline and Andie were treated at the hands of Damon is a trigger for you this is not a chapter you will want to read. Without giving too much away just know that human Katherine has a very similar relationship with Klaus. Not explicit, because it's not from either of their viewpoints, but Elijah witnesses enough to maybe make the reading… uncomfortable.
Death of Summer //Death of Summer//
Grieving Autumn // Eye of the Storm// // Heavy Rainfall// // Promising Cold//
Haunting Winter //SPLINTERED ICE//
*o0O0o*
*Harshness of the Seasons*
*Haunting Winter: Splintered Ice*
*o0O0o*
Elijah's eyes roam across the hall and while concealing disinterest in the guests of his brother he carefully observes for signs of something curious enough to catch attention. Unfortunately, as he's come to expect, it is only filled with the routine arrogance and greed this class of people is so known for.
Their hearts thrum around him, each beat pushing their scents into the falsely light environment and acting like the taste palette for a feast. He distantly wonders whose unfortunate body will be the one Niklaus finds most unusual, which woman will glisten with the right combination of delight and jewelry to capture his brother's eyes this time.
He almost pities the swarm of oblivious minds that flirtatiously smile at the predators in their midst but they all, every one, hounded for those 'birthday' invitations, stabbing each other in the back to have them and thus the feeling swiftly passes him by. Besides, he knows most will leave as unconcerned as they arrived, and the few who won't… will not be missed.
Five hundred years has truly changed much for his family, 'or for what is left of it at least' he quickly amends.
Picking up a glass of red wine the vampire - granted not a word he would have personally picked - joins the mortal crowd with a cool smile on his face and wonders how many salacious women will this time daintily introduce themselves to the widowed lord in the fruitless hope of snatching his hand and his lands.
As if Elijah cannot see them for the vultures that they are. Or that any of them can possibly compare to the strength, bravery and kindness of Elena.
His insincere smile falters at her name in his thoughts. It has been a time, perhaps too long a time, since he's caught himself thinking of her. In this one way his mind and that of a mortal's is the same, - memories fade into the past. Whether he wants them to or not they quiet and still, simmer into the background of his world and then… strike afresh.
But something is always inevitably lost once he thinks of Elena anew.
The gentle lines of her face still starkly assault his consciousness, but though he remembers her eyes to be brown the tint of them is gone. She smelled like honey and pine, but Elijah mourns knowing if there was an after flavor of sweet or salty to her flesh in their kisses. He remembers her, that he could not forget even if he wished, but no matter how tightly he grips for the details the edges degrade over the centuries.
Elena is like an ice crystal mosaic now. He has the pieces and he knows the portrait she makes, but some of them drop from his numb, frozen fingers and shatter on the ground. Parts of them he retrieves, but they remain cracked, bending the light around them in ways he knows to be wrong but cannot rectify.
This will not deter him. He still intends to learn all that anew once she wakes - 'if' the small, cruel part of him always whispers.
Yes, it has taken him so many more years than he planned - 'lifetimes and lifetimes longer', - it might take him the same again yet, but he has not given up on his quest. Elena shall open her eyes again and he'll see their shine. He will caress her lips with his own and uncover that taste he used to treasure so strongly.
He will hear the melody within her laughter and…
A hand by his shoulder pulls him from his ever waning reflection of the past and he turns sharply at the gall of it. But his cold reprimand quiets at recognizing the man looking back, the younger vampire is one of the few he still trusts, - even if only very slightly - he has after all proven his loyalty as one of the guardians in Elijah's absences.
"Ah, good evening Trevor! I was not aware you would join us today!"
Trevor smiles nervously and Elijah's gaze rapidly sharpens. The vampire's eyes hold a look that has never graced them before, it is excited… calculated. It calls for future weariness and close attention.
"I could not miss the celebration! And there is a… gift my Lord Klaus might find suitable."
He rather doubts his brother would find anything Trevor has prepared suitable, but the man is nervous if his wandering eyes are a sign to be believed. It would be better if Elijah quickly investigates this 'gift' himself rather than letting Trevor make a fool of himself in front of his irritable sibling.
It would take far too much work to find someone to replace him and though Niklaus might pretend to prefer Trevor alive, he rather doubts his brother's slight lingering affection for this man's friend could ever hope to prevent his death if that famous temper was aroused.
"Very well, show me this object that has you so certain of my brother's illusive favor!"
Trevor turns to guide Elijah towards the other side of the room visibly fighting to hide his shaking hands.
"Right this way!"
They come to a stop near the back of a slender woman. She is dressed in red satin with dark hair tumbling past her shoulders, her heart beats steady and strong while her face rests on something he hardly cares to look for. Elijah does not believe he's ever met her… and yet he falters in his steps. There is something strangely familiar about her. Her scent or her heartbeat gives away something… it is as if he's half expecting to recognize the face she will turn towards them.
"My dear!"
Trevor's prompt is all it takes for the girl to face them and thus the air of Elijah's lungs escapes him, for a moment it leaves his chest frozen solid at this ghost. But her heart still riddles his senses, it's the only sound reaching him now and so she cannot be a specter or a nightmare.
Her heart never beats in his dreams.
The doe eyes belonging to the most beautiful woman he's ever seen are the brown of melted chocolate and breathless he remembers that if he stepped close enough to share air there would be golden specks scattered within.
She smiles at him - "…it's sweet and loving and never more so than when she directs it at us." - and for one blissful, lingering moment he thinks her Elena. He thinks Trevor has found the solution that despite his visits to countless magic practitioners of so many, many cultures, has escaped Elijah for five long centuries. Maybe by some dearly sought miracle in one of the weeks he had placed the vampire to guard his wife's body she'd simply… awakened.
"Hello!"
The drumming from this woman's chest within a moment transforms from water to a dying man into a thousand icicles piercing his chest. His own heart breaks in synchrony with the jagged crack in the illusion.
Elena would not yet know this language. She would not greet him in this new tongue he and his siblings had learned when settling here. She would whisper his name and greet him with the words he grew up with and has not spoken in years, - not since Finn - this excruciatingly cultured accent and politely impersonal smile could not belong to her.
And he begins to see the small distortions in the woman before him. The parts that do not quite fit, the parts he had not seen in the moments he thought the other side of his soul was finally within reach again.
This twin is younger than his heart's chosen was at her death, not by much certainly but enough to be noticed. Elena's face had matured a small degree more and her limbs had set in the height they would remain. The human in front of him remained maybe a year behind.
Elena still rested dead in the mausoleum he had laid her in.
And all that lived was the doppelganger his brother has been waiting for, the girl cast in the image of his wife who Elijah has prayed would never be found.
Before he can decide on the right approach to this unfortunate development he hears the voice of the person this 'gift' is intended for and Elijah almost laughs at his previous musing. He no longer needs to wonder who will be the woman Niklaus will ironically find to be most unique.
*o0O0o*
Their new guest, as Elijah had soon learned, is Katerina Petrova.
There is a mystery behind her, one which hints at something other than the half a millennium old origins that are behind her existence - in a matter of fact of those she does not seem to have any idea for at all. - This secret, whatever it turns out to be, has roots he feels to be less supernatural and much more personal.
His many, subtle inquiries for the details of her story are unusually lacking in answers, and as far as Elijah has personally observed the girl consistently prefers to keep mute on the matters of her past. But he has been able to glean some details. He's aware she's lived seventeen years without being noticed by the less natural elements of the world and after leaving her home has traveled to England from Bulgaria.
The only fact he can ascertain for sure is that the girl is a survivor, a true fighter at heart. The road that must have led her through the very worst circumstances, and allowed her to reach the doorstep of his brother, could not have been without its own tragedies. And yet he sees strength, defiance against fate in her posture and gaze. She stares in the eyes of everyone she talks to, even when human propriety would caution otherwise. It's as if she, by her every breath, is declaring her self victorious over some wrong done to her and is promising never to be so injured again.
'It is foolish. It is… admirable,' Elijah, standing in the shade of a willow silently thinks to himself 'She possesses the heart of a warrior'. He is leaning against a tree to better hide from the bright glare of the sun, as despite the protection of his ring he has found the warmth of its shine to be less inviting than in the days long since lost.
-*o0o*-
They were lying lazily in the field. His arms were encircling her as he gazed up at the few stubborn clouds standing against the scorching presence of the summer heat and the burning glare of the sun. There had been no rain for weeks now and it did not seem to be changing any time soon, a part of his mind worried for the crops that would be lost if this continued for much longer, but most of it was on the woman in his arms.
Elena's head was tucked in the bend of his elbow, her fingers playing with his own. On a fleeting impulse he ran his other hand down her face until it reached a strand of her dark hair. Playing with it captured his attention for a moment longer before his fingers drifted down the length of her brown lock, grazing her neck, reaching her chest, lingering over the swell of her breast and after a dizzying moment went further still before coming to a rest upon her swollen stomach.
There he stopped, before his fingers, almost with a mind of their own, started to draw invisible runes. For health, bravery, for a long life, for the spirit of a warrior, for the heart of honor, for strength and for loyalty and-
"You know Elijah, I might be carrying a daughter and not a son."
He stopped, but only for as long as it took to listen to her words. When he added a rune for happiness and beauty and victory of battle and answered.
"It makes no difference… she'll be just as much a warrior as her mother then."
Suddenly Elena flipped over on top of him and cast his face in the shadow of her face. But her smile was more blinding than the sun and he barely noticed before all he could think on at all was her… her hands, her mouth, her eyes, her skin and the child growing safely in her body and in their hearts.
-*o0o*-
As he shifts his weight one of the first browning leaves of this year caresses his cheek and falls to land on his shoulder, it's enough to distract him from his longing. Elijah flicks it away and grimly continues waiting.
After the recent developments he knows he must confront the misfortunate girl with some less than pleasant information, for sadly Niklaus has not been idle in the time since the doppelganger's appearance. Not in the least.
Instead he has played the charming host in its entirety.
Has provided Katerina with everything she could possibly need, from exquisite foods and fanciful rooms for her rest, to music that is to her taste and the art his brother swears he created entirely for her eyes. Elijah recognizes his kindness for what it is, has seen it played out more than once in the centuries since their descent into immortality. Katerina is nothing but an animal Niklaus is readying for slaughter.
And as she blushes and thanks for this charitable persona his brother's taken up with thinly veiled smirks at her back, Niklaus waits for all the pieces to reach their place so that the true game can come to its final end.
But then Katerina too will be simply a pale corpse carelessly thrown to the ground, like soiled cloth that has lost its use. Like Elena was so long ago. And no matter what promises Niklaus spins it will not be rubies that stain her neck red, death will be the only scenery the monstrous artist will have painted with the girl truly in mind.
Elijah fights to imprison that thought, for they are all monsters now.
Had it not been Godric's blood running though her veins, Elijah does not know if he would have cared about the web being spun around her innocent senses, but it is and so he must stop what is beginning to seem inevitable.
Instead of continuing with his powerless watch over this travesty, Elijah waits to intercept the girl's daily walk through the palace gardens. Maybe she can be persuaded to keep her heart safe for a while longer, though by the charmed smiles he's noticed on her face lately at even the mention of Niklaus, he's afraid he's already too late. But he needs more time to find a way to keep his brother from breaking his curse and he must do so without endangering the life he must save for the sake of his son's memory… or without revealing himself as the man behind the failure.
Moments after those worries encircle his mind he finally hears the young woman's wandering steps. She's wearing a new dark green dress, doubtlessly a result of the seamstresses that had been invited two weeks previous. As always he finds himself glad for her composed stance, even while she thinks herself alone she's a product of this time. It keeps separate the reality from the illusion, allows him to differentiate between the memories and the present.
He knows he's in the presence of Elena's descendant, - their descendant - and not his wife. He suppresses his bitterness over it. This girl does not deserve those comparisons. She does not deserve the cruel whispers of his mind, speaking of how he'd exchange her life for Elena's if he could.
He is no less of a monster than his brother in the end. Ayanna was right in her hatred if this is what her visions showed her.
"Lady Katerina!" Elijah greets and steps out from the shadow cast over him by the tree he was standing beneath.
He has startled her he knows, her heart jumps and she hesitates for a beat. But it barely takes a breath before she's smiling again, though her shoulders are still slightly drawn.
"Yes my Lord?"
He notices, not for the first time, the look behind the polite expression. Katerina is playing the game too, and if only she knew the field on which it was taking place she might be a master at it. Unfortunately she's moving across the wrong board. And she'll lose if something isn't done.
"May I join you for a minute?"
He smiles himself, trying to ease the tension his intrusion has created. He must look honest in his request because Katerina visibly relaxes at this gesture and nods in invitation. They walk for a few minutes in silence and when he feels the girl's curiosity beginning to build he turns to her with a sigh.
"There is a delicate matter I have wished to speak to you about. Can I be honest with you?"
There is a flash of satisfaction on her face and he suddenly smiles almost sadly. There is much behind the pretty facade of innocence she seems to embody. She almost reminds him of Kol, at least the Kol that he remembers from when they were still as human as she. Though he ruefully thinks of how his younger sibling's mask of choice had never been 'innocence'. Quite the opposite in fact.
But the comparison still stands. There is something playful and intelligent about them both, something hidden and secret.
"But of course Lord Elijah. Whatever is the matter?"
At that reminder of why he's here to begin with Elijah finally turns serious and puts all the weight of the matter into his eyes, making sure that what he tells her is absorbed like it should be. His voice is heavy and every letter punctuated with meaning he hopes to convey.
"You must be careful of my brother, he is not… everything he presents himself as."
Katerina's eyes seem to turn considering and Elijah almost breathes in relief, but before he can continue a stubborn glint suddenly shines in them. That expression he's seen on countless occasions as well. It's what he's presented with every time Rebekah gives out her heart and their brother once again warns her against pursuing a new paramour.
He does not know this girl's history, or the girl herself really, but he knows he's lost this move.
"I do not doubt your words my Lord, but Klaus has been most kind to me. I am sure there is no need for your worry, although I am grateful for the concern."
It seems Elijah will have to take more direct measures after all.
*o0O0o*
He waits until nightfall, still hesitant for the confrontation that must take place. Niklaus has only grown more unpredictable over time. Elijah no longer knows if he can find the right words to influence him. He had given up on trying too long ago, maybe that was a mistake that will cost him now. But Elijah's patience with Niklaus' actions towards the Lady Katerina has come to a close. The girl might not be Elena, but she is of her descent and his brother playing with her heart like a cat does with a mouse is a dishonor to everything they have been taught to uphold.
No, he will stand for it no more.
So he pushes open the opulent doors leading into his brother's personal chambers for a long overdue talk…
…and is met by a sight he should maybe have expected.
But his simmering thoughts seem to have overwhelmed his good sense and so he is unprepared for the two people lying on the bed his eyes now rest on. His mind blanks and he needs to breathe through the sudden clenching in the muscles of his throat.
'Not Elena' he desperately reminds himself.
The doppelganger's corset is half undone and his brother's arms cover her like a possession he's in the middle of sampling the merits of. It's not Elena, but it is still hard to see the body with the face of his wife in the arms of his brother.
Elijah's jaw clenches and he takes a moment to breathe through his first instinct. His greeting however, once it comes, must still hold a trace of a growl. Or so he guesses by the way Niklaus suddenly smirks at him.
"Brother."
The smirk only grows. There's a sharp look in those eyes that Elijah is instantly wary of. He hopes Niklaus has not guessed who Elijah had seen in Katerina's place for a fraction of a moment. But it is a fruitless hope, they have spent centuries by each others side, they can read every flicker of thought too well. And Niklaus has always been able to smell weakness.
"Elijah! How… unexpected! I'm rather busy at the moment, can this wait?"
If Elijah did not hear the mocking tone he'd have maybe been fooled by the polite expression and guileless eyes. As it is, Elijah does not fail to notice how the other vampire almost imperceptibly moves aside to expose more of his companion, as if to gloat about his latest conquest, or to stroke the fire of that first impression. The anger that suddenly overwhelms him for the first time is entirely on behalf of the girl herself. No, she isn't his wife, but Katerina deserves respect none the less. She deserves more than being an object for Niklaus's dark entertainments.
He breathes through the fury and conceals everything through centuries practiced skill.
"No, it does not appear that it can. I'm sure Lady Katerina has had a tiring day and would like some rest… alone."
There's a twitch in the corner of the other man's mouth.
"Do not worry brother. She is quite fine here, you can say what you will, I'm sure she wont remember a thing."
Elijah's look quickly focuses on the girl he was politely avoiding the sight of. Now that he is focusing on her he sees it. And hollowly Elijah remembers how Katerina did not even gasp at his sudden entrance, nor is she now frantically trying to cover herself from his sight. Instead she is gazing up at Niklaus with her eyes glazed and unseeing… well, unseeing of anything but the person she's sharing the bed with. Her whole world spun down to the man who seems to have compelled her to see him as the center of her being.
Elijah should have learned by now the depravity his brother stoops to and yet he feels disappointment gnawing through his chest.
He wishes he could go back in time, if only to look at his brother and be able to see his soul once more. Seeing in Niklaus only the all consuming anger at the world, only the ambition for power, only the fear of being alone, and hardly a speck of genuine love for the last remains of what their family used to represent, is more painful every year.
"You've compelled her. Niklaus you wish to kill her, must you break the child as well?"
Niklaus laughs, he laughs with callous enjoyment and the hole within Elijah's chest deepens again. He closes his eyes unable to look at him, to look at what he's become. He's suddenly grateful Rebekah is in France, though he misses his sister, he's glad that she's not here to see this. She always loved Nik most of all and Elijah's certain that once her faith in their brother leaves her eyes - like it's leaving Elijah right now - her heart will break. He's seen her repairing it a hundred times, he does not know if she'll repair it if Nik's the one who shatters it.
"I can assure you Elijah, she is no child!"
He's never had to contain an urge to strike Niklaus, not like this. Never truly wanted to genuinely hurt him as badly as he does right now, - not even when he learned of Finn and later Kol, though those times came close - he's protected his little sibling for as long as he can remember…. but right now he wants to find a wooden stake and drive it through his brother's heart.
And still he grasps at the edges. They promised each other 'always and forever', promised to stand behind this family as long as they live. And he can't give up yet.
"Maybe not, but she is my descendant so whatever you're hoping to gain here, stop!"
Elijah's voice is almost pleading, begging for the remnants of the boy who loved life despite all its cruelties.
"Oh please! All the highborn of England are closer related to each other than either of us is to her."
"I do not see how this matters… and why ever have you given up on Ro…"
He knows he's made a mistake as soon as the words leave him. Whatever reasoning there was, it's gone now. Elijah looks on as Niklaus's whole body shutters down, as he transforms from his brother into the monster who gave the second most powerful witch he's ever met nightmares half a millennium before this moment.
"Be quiet!"
The voice is almost silent. The words that come out next are calm, and all the more horrific for it.
"Actually… how about I loan her to you for a night? You can even pretend to have your precious Elena back for a time. Hell maybe having a bit of fun will make you less of a bore."
Elijah recoils at the thought. And by the widening of Niklaus' smile he guesses some muscle in his face has betrayed his disgust.
"How about I compell her for you as well? Would you like me to tell her she's Elena? How does that human fairytale go? She's been a sleeping princess for a hundred years and a gallant prince rode up to wake her, fought witches and killed dragons for her. And now she can thank him quite properly?"
He knows there are veins slipping onto his face, can feel the teeth elongating and revealing the face of the darkness he's carried around since her death, - in more ways that one because of her death. He hears his own heart pumping borrowed blood through his body until that is all he can feel. His rage burns in him, boils within his stomach in a way so all consuming he does not feel himself breathe, and for a moment Elijah thinks he could actually kill his little brother for this. If only he didn't know how impossible that is.
His own voice is like gravel and hot coals.
"Niklaus. You will remove Katerina's compulsion. Do I make myself clear? And if I see her anywhere near you from now on, I will come and take her away from here myself and you'll be waving goodbye to any hope you have of breaking that curse. Do you understand me?"
He sees as his words register and immediately turns around to leave.
"I'll be waiting outside for her to dress. Do not make me wait."
*o0O0o*
// previous chapter//
*o0O0o*
A/N: What did I even write? God I did not set out to abuse Katherine when I set out writing this I swear, but then Klaus was supposed to seduce her and I kept thinking about how her using the Salvatores as toys had to come from somewhere and things… escalated. But it fits, right? Not that much different than those mute, blonde hot girls parading around the Mikaelson manor like zombies in the third season at least.
And about the couple I implied so heavily I should probably remove the 'implied' - I don't even ship them, but something made me include it. Mostly because there is this one scene a few chapters later that I really, really want to have and so I had to. Plus if I'm flipping the universe around I should mess up the other relationships a bit too.
And… okay I'm sorry about Klaus. I know some of you want him to not be an evil douche because there's more to him than that, but… well Klaus isn't innocent and lily white. And the relationship between the Mikaelsons is pretty damn broken, largely due to what happened exactly during those first 500 years.
P.S. please don't be too mean.
Rating: R
Author:
terapsina
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Pairing/Characters: Elijah/Elena, Elijah, Katherine, Klaus, Elena.
Word Count: 4'539
Parts: 5/10
Summary: AU To those who know the story of the making of vampires Elena will be remembered as the girl who was sacrificed for the plague they became. But in Elijah's memory she will always be the wife he loved and lost to his parents' desperation. All that he now has left is the wane hope that the body Ayanna preserved will one day wake as she promised. Elejah
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
WARNING: If the way Caroline and Andie were treated at the hands of Damon is a trigger for you this is not a chapter you will want to read. Without giving too much away just know that human Katherine has a very similar relationship with Klaus. Not explicit, because it's not from either of their viewpoints, but Elijah witnesses enough to maybe make the reading… uncomfortable.
Death of Summer //Death of Summer//
Grieving Autumn // Eye of the Storm// // Heavy Rainfall// // Promising Cold//
Haunting Winter //SPLINTERED ICE//
*o0O0o*
*Harshness of the Seasons*
*Haunting Winter: Splintered Ice*
*o0O0o*
Elijah's eyes roam across the hall and while concealing disinterest in the guests of his brother he carefully observes for signs of something curious enough to catch attention. Unfortunately, as he's come to expect, it is only filled with the routine arrogance and greed this class of people is so known for.
Their hearts thrum around him, each beat pushing their scents into the falsely light environment and acting like the taste palette for a feast. He distantly wonders whose unfortunate body will be the one Niklaus finds most unusual, which woman will glisten with the right combination of delight and jewelry to capture his brother's eyes this time.
He almost pities the swarm of oblivious minds that flirtatiously smile at the predators in their midst but they all, every one, hounded for those 'birthday' invitations, stabbing each other in the back to have them and thus the feeling swiftly passes him by. Besides, he knows most will leave as unconcerned as they arrived, and the few who won't… will not be missed.
Five hundred years has truly changed much for his family, 'or for what is left of it at least' he quickly amends.
Picking up a glass of red wine the vampire - granted not a word he would have personally picked - joins the mortal crowd with a cool smile on his face and wonders how many salacious women will this time daintily introduce themselves to the widowed lord in the fruitless hope of snatching his hand and his lands.
As if Elijah cannot see them for the vultures that they are. Or that any of them can possibly compare to the strength, bravery and kindness of Elena.
His insincere smile falters at her name in his thoughts. It has been a time, perhaps too long a time, since he's caught himself thinking of her. In this one way his mind and that of a mortal's is the same, - memories fade into the past. Whether he wants them to or not they quiet and still, simmer into the background of his world and then… strike afresh.
But something is always inevitably lost once he thinks of Elena anew.
The gentle lines of her face still starkly assault his consciousness, but though he remembers her eyes to be brown the tint of them is gone. She smelled like honey and pine, but Elijah mourns knowing if there was an after flavor of sweet or salty to her flesh in their kisses. He remembers her, that he could not forget even if he wished, but no matter how tightly he grips for the details the edges degrade over the centuries.
Elena is like an ice crystal mosaic now. He has the pieces and he knows the portrait she makes, but some of them drop from his numb, frozen fingers and shatter on the ground. Parts of them he retrieves, but they remain cracked, bending the light around them in ways he knows to be wrong but cannot rectify.
This will not deter him. He still intends to learn all that anew once she wakes - 'if' the small, cruel part of him always whispers.
Yes, it has taken him so many more years than he planned - 'lifetimes and lifetimes longer', - it might take him the same again yet, but he has not given up on his quest. Elena shall open her eyes again and he'll see their shine. He will caress her lips with his own and uncover that taste he used to treasure so strongly.
He will hear the melody within her laughter and…
A hand by his shoulder pulls him from his ever waning reflection of the past and he turns sharply at the gall of it. But his cold reprimand quiets at recognizing the man looking back, the younger vampire is one of the few he still trusts, - even if only very slightly - he has after all proven his loyalty as one of the guardians in Elijah's absences.
"Ah, good evening Trevor! I was not aware you would join us today!"
Trevor smiles nervously and Elijah's gaze rapidly sharpens. The vampire's eyes hold a look that has never graced them before, it is excited… calculated. It calls for future weariness and close attention.
"I could not miss the celebration! And there is a… gift my Lord Klaus might find suitable."
He rather doubts his brother would find anything Trevor has prepared suitable, but the man is nervous if his wandering eyes are a sign to be believed. It would be better if Elijah quickly investigates this 'gift' himself rather than letting Trevor make a fool of himself in front of his irritable sibling.
It would take far too much work to find someone to replace him and though Niklaus might pretend to prefer Trevor alive, he rather doubts his brother's slight lingering affection for this man's friend could ever hope to prevent his death if that famous temper was aroused.
"Very well, show me this object that has you so certain of my brother's illusive favor!"
Trevor turns to guide Elijah towards the other side of the room visibly fighting to hide his shaking hands.
"Right this way!"
They come to a stop near the back of a slender woman. She is dressed in red satin with dark hair tumbling past her shoulders, her heart beats steady and strong while her face rests on something he hardly cares to look for. Elijah does not believe he's ever met her… and yet he falters in his steps. There is something strangely familiar about her. Her scent or her heartbeat gives away something… it is as if he's half expecting to recognize the face she will turn towards them.
"My dear!"
Trevor's prompt is all it takes for the girl to face them and thus the air of Elijah's lungs escapes him, for a moment it leaves his chest frozen solid at this ghost. But her heart still riddles his senses, it's the only sound reaching him now and so she cannot be a specter or a nightmare.
Her heart never beats in his dreams.
The doe eyes belonging to the most beautiful woman he's ever seen are the brown of melted chocolate and breathless he remembers that if he stepped close enough to share air there would be golden specks scattered within.
She smiles at him - "…it's sweet and loving and never more so than when she directs it at us." - and for one blissful, lingering moment he thinks her Elena. He thinks Trevor has found the solution that despite his visits to countless magic practitioners of so many, many cultures, has escaped Elijah for five long centuries. Maybe by some dearly sought miracle in one of the weeks he had placed the vampire to guard his wife's body she'd simply… awakened.
"Hello!"
The drumming from this woman's chest within a moment transforms from water to a dying man into a thousand icicles piercing his chest. His own heart breaks in synchrony with the jagged crack in the illusion.
Elena would not yet know this language. She would not greet him in this new tongue he and his siblings had learned when settling here. She would whisper his name and greet him with the words he grew up with and has not spoken in years, - not since Finn - this excruciatingly cultured accent and politely impersonal smile could not belong to her.
And he begins to see the small distortions in the woman before him. The parts that do not quite fit, the parts he had not seen in the moments he thought the other side of his soul was finally within reach again.
This twin is younger than his heart's chosen was at her death, not by much certainly but enough to be noticed. Elena's face had matured a small degree more and her limbs had set in the height they would remain. The human in front of him remained maybe a year behind.
Elena still rested dead in the mausoleum he had laid her in.
And all that lived was the doppelganger his brother has been waiting for, the girl cast in the image of his wife who Elijah has prayed would never be found.
Before he can decide on the right approach to this unfortunate development he hears the voice of the person this 'gift' is intended for and Elijah almost laughs at his previous musing. He no longer needs to wonder who will be the woman Niklaus will ironically find to be most unique.
*o0O0o*
Their new guest, as Elijah had soon learned, is Katerina Petrova.
There is a mystery behind her, one which hints at something other than the half a millennium old origins that are behind her existence - in a matter of fact of those she does not seem to have any idea for at all. - This secret, whatever it turns out to be, has roots he feels to be less supernatural and much more personal.
His many, subtle inquiries for the details of her story are unusually lacking in answers, and as far as Elijah has personally observed the girl consistently prefers to keep mute on the matters of her past. But he has been able to glean some details. He's aware she's lived seventeen years without being noticed by the less natural elements of the world and after leaving her home has traveled to England from Bulgaria.
The only fact he can ascertain for sure is that the girl is a survivor, a true fighter at heart. The road that must have led her through the very worst circumstances, and allowed her to reach the doorstep of his brother, could not have been without its own tragedies. And yet he sees strength, defiance against fate in her posture and gaze. She stares in the eyes of everyone she talks to, even when human propriety would caution otherwise. It's as if she, by her every breath, is declaring her self victorious over some wrong done to her and is promising never to be so injured again.
'It is foolish. It is… admirable,' Elijah, standing in the shade of a willow silently thinks to himself 'She possesses the heart of a warrior'. He is leaning against a tree to better hide from the bright glare of the sun, as despite the protection of his ring he has found the warmth of its shine to be less inviting than in the days long since lost.
-*o0o*-
They were lying lazily in the field. His arms were encircling her as he gazed up at the few stubborn clouds standing against the scorching presence of the summer heat and the burning glare of the sun. There had been no rain for weeks now and it did not seem to be changing any time soon, a part of his mind worried for the crops that would be lost if this continued for much longer, but most of it was on the woman in his arms.
Elena's head was tucked in the bend of his elbow, her fingers playing with his own. On a fleeting impulse he ran his other hand down her face until it reached a strand of her dark hair. Playing with it captured his attention for a moment longer before his fingers drifted down the length of her brown lock, grazing her neck, reaching her chest, lingering over the swell of her breast and after a dizzying moment went further still before coming to a rest upon her swollen stomach.
There he stopped, before his fingers, almost with a mind of their own, started to draw invisible runes. For health, bravery, for a long life, for the spirit of a warrior, for the heart of honor, for strength and for loyalty and-
"You know Elijah, I might be carrying a daughter and not a son."
He stopped, but only for as long as it took to listen to her words. When he added a rune for happiness and beauty and victory of battle and answered.
"It makes no difference… she'll be just as much a warrior as her mother then."
Suddenly Elena flipped over on top of him and cast his face in the shadow of her face. But her smile was more blinding than the sun and he barely noticed before all he could think on at all was her… her hands, her mouth, her eyes, her skin and the child growing safely in her body and in their hearts.
-*o0o*-
As he shifts his weight one of the first browning leaves of this year caresses his cheek and falls to land on his shoulder, it's enough to distract him from his longing. Elijah flicks it away and grimly continues waiting.
After the recent developments he knows he must confront the misfortunate girl with some less than pleasant information, for sadly Niklaus has not been idle in the time since the doppelganger's appearance. Not in the least.
Instead he has played the charming host in its entirety.
Has provided Katerina with everything she could possibly need, from exquisite foods and fanciful rooms for her rest, to music that is to her taste and the art his brother swears he created entirely for her eyes. Elijah recognizes his kindness for what it is, has seen it played out more than once in the centuries since their descent into immortality. Katerina is nothing but an animal Niklaus is readying for slaughter.
And as she blushes and thanks for this charitable persona his brother's taken up with thinly veiled smirks at her back, Niklaus waits for all the pieces to reach their place so that the true game can come to its final end.
But then Katerina too will be simply a pale corpse carelessly thrown to the ground, like soiled cloth that has lost its use. Like Elena was so long ago. And no matter what promises Niklaus spins it will not be rubies that stain her neck red, death will be the only scenery the monstrous artist will have painted with the girl truly in mind.
Elijah fights to imprison that thought, for they are all monsters now.
Had it not been Godric's blood running though her veins, Elijah does not know if he would have cared about the web being spun around her innocent senses, but it is and so he must stop what is beginning to seem inevitable.
Instead of continuing with his powerless watch over this travesty, Elijah waits to intercept the girl's daily walk through the palace gardens. Maybe she can be persuaded to keep her heart safe for a while longer, though by the charmed smiles he's noticed on her face lately at even the mention of Niklaus, he's afraid he's already too late. But he needs more time to find a way to keep his brother from breaking his curse and he must do so without endangering the life he must save for the sake of his son's memory… or without revealing himself as the man behind the failure.
Moments after those worries encircle his mind he finally hears the young woman's wandering steps. She's wearing a new dark green dress, doubtlessly a result of the seamstresses that had been invited two weeks previous. As always he finds himself glad for her composed stance, even while she thinks herself alone she's a product of this time. It keeps separate the reality from the illusion, allows him to differentiate between the memories and the present.
He knows he's in the presence of Elena's descendant, - their descendant - and not his wife. He suppresses his bitterness over it. This girl does not deserve those comparisons. She does not deserve the cruel whispers of his mind, speaking of how he'd exchange her life for Elena's if he could.
He is no less of a monster than his brother in the end. Ayanna was right in her hatred if this is what her visions showed her.
"Lady Katerina!" Elijah greets and steps out from the shadow cast over him by the tree he was standing beneath.
He has startled her he knows, her heart jumps and she hesitates for a beat. But it barely takes a breath before she's smiling again, though her shoulders are still slightly drawn.
"Yes my Lord?"
He notices, not for the first time, the look behind the polite expression. Katerina is playing the game too, and if only she knew the field on which it was taking place she might be a master at it. Unfortunately she's moving across the wrong board. And she'll lose if something isn't done.
"May I join you for a minute?"
He smiles himself, trying to ease the tension his intrusion has created. He must look honest in his request because Katerina visibly relaxes at this gesture and nods in invitation. They walk for a few minutes in silence and when he feels the girl's curiosity beginning to build he turns to her with a sigh.
"There is a delicate matter I have wished to speak to you about. Can I be honest with you?"
There is a flash of satisfaction on her face and he suddenly smiles almost sadly. There is much behind the pretty facade of innocence she seems to embody. She almost reminds him of Kol, at least the Kol that he remembers from when they were still as human as she. Though he ruefully thinks of how his younger sibling's mask of choice had never been 'innocence'. Quite the opposite in fact.
But the comparison still stands. There is something playful and intelligent about them both, something hidden and secret.
"But of course Lord Elijah. Whatever is the matter?"
At that reminder of why he's here to begin with Elijah finally turns serious and puts all the weight of the matter into his eyes, making sure that what he tells her is absorbed like it should be. His voice is heavy and every letter punctuated with meaning he hopes to convey.
"You must be careful of my brother, he is not… everything he presents himself as."
Katerina's eyes seem to turn considering and Elijah almost breathes in relief, but before he can continue a stubborn glint suddenly shines in them. That expression he's seen on countless occasions as well. It's what he's presented with every time Rebekah gives out her heart and their brother once again warns her against pursuing a new paramour.
He does not know this girl's history, or the girl herself really, but he knows he's lost this move.
"I do not doubt your words my Lord, but Klaus has been most kind to me. I am sure there is no need for your worry, although I am grateful for the concern."
It seems Elijah will have to take more direct measures after all.
*o0O0o*
He waits until nightfall, still hesitant for the confrontation that must take place. Niklaus has only grown more unpredictable over time. Elijah no longer knows if he can find the right words to influence him. He had given up on trying too long ago, maybe that was a mistake that will cost him now. But Elijah's patience with Niklaus' actions towards the Lady Katerina has come to a close. The girl might not be Elena, but she is of her descent and his brother playing with her heart like a cat does with a mouse is a dishonor to everything they have been taught to uphold.
No, he will stand for it no more.
So he pushes open the opulent doors leading into his brother's personal chambers for a long overdue talk…
…and is met by a sight he should maybe have expected.
But his simmering thoughts seem to have overwhelmed his good sense and so he is unprepared for the two people lying on the bed his eyes now rest on. His mind blanks and he needs to breathe through the sudden clenching in the muscles of his throat.
'Not Elena' he desperately reminds himself.
The doppelganger's corset is half undone and his brother's arms cover her like a possession he's in the middle of sampling the merits of. It's not Elena, but it is still hard to see the body with the face of his wife in the arms of his brother.
Elijah's jaw clenches and he takes a moment to breathe through his first instinct. His greeting however, once it comes, must still hold a trace of a growl. Or so he guesses by the way Niklaus suddenly smirks at him.
"Brother."
The smirk only grows. There's a sharp look in those eyes that Elijah is instantly wary of. He hopes Niklaus has not guessed who Elijah had seen in Katerina's place for a fraction of a moment. But it is a fruitless hope, they have spent centuries by each others side, they can read every flicker of thought too well. And Niklaus has always been able to smell weakness.
"Elijah! How… unexpected! I'm rather busy at the moment, can this wait?"
If Elijah did not hear the mocking tone he'd have maybe been fooled by the polite expression and guileless eyes. As it is, Elijah does not fail to notice how the other vampire almost imperceptibly moves aside to expose more of his companion, as if to gloat about his latest conquest, or to stroke the fire of that first impression. The anger that suddenly overwhelms him for the first time is entirely on behalf of the girl herself. No, she isn't his wife, but Katerina deserves respect none the less. She deserves more than being an object for Niklaus's dark entertainments.
He breathes through the fury and conceals everything through centuries practiced skill.
"No, it does not appear that it can. I'm sure Lady Katerina has had a tiring day and would like some rest… alone."
There's a twitch in the corner of the other man's mouth.
"Do not worry brother. She is quite fine here, you can say what you will, I'm sure she wont remember a thing."
Elijah's look quickly focuses on the girl he was politely avoiding the sight of. Now that he is focusing on her he sees it. And hollowly Elijah remembers how Katerina did not even gasp at his sudden entrance, nor is she now frantically trying to cover herself from his sight. Instead she is gazing up at Niklaus with her eyes glazed and unseeing… well, unseeing of anything but the person she's sharing the bed with. Her whole world spun down to the man who seems to have compelled her to see him as the center of her being.
Elijah should have learned by now the depravity his brother stoops to and yet he feels disappointment gnawing through his chest.
He wishes he could go back in time, if only to look at his brother and be able to see his soul once more. Seeing in Niklaus only the all consuming anger at the world, only the ambition for power, only the fear of being alone, and hardly a speck of genuine love for the last remains of what their family used to represent, is more painful every year.
"You've compelled her. Niklaus you wish to kill her, must you break the child as well?"
Niklaus laughs, he laughs with callous enjoyment and the hole within Elijah's chest deepens again. He closes his eyes unable to look at him, to look at what he's become. He's suddenly grateful Rebekah is in France, though he misses his sister, he's glad that she's not here to see this. She always loved Nik most of all and Elijah's certain that once her faith in their brother leaves her eyes - like it's leaving Elijah right now - her heart will break. He's seen her repairing it a hundred times, he does not know if she'll repair it if Nik's the one who shatters it.
"I can assure you Elijah, she is no child!"
He's never had to contain an urge to strike Niklaus, not like this. Never truly wanted to genuinely hurt him as badly as he does right now, - not even when he learned of Finn and later Kol, though those times came close - he's protected his little sibling for as long as he can remember…. but right now he wants to find a wooden stake and drive it through his brother's heart.
And still he grasps at the edges. They promised each other 'always and forever', promised to stand behind this family as long as they live. And he can't give up yet.
"Maybe not, but she is my descendant so whatever you're hoping to gain here, stop!"
Elijah's voice is almost pleading, begging for the remnants of the boy who loved life despite all its cruelties.
"Oh please! All the highborn of England are closer related to each other than either of us is to her."
"I do not see how this matters… and why ever have you given up on Ro…"
He knows he's made a mistake as soon as the words leave him. Whatever reasoning there was, it's gone now. Elijah looks on as Niklaus's whole body shutters down, as he transforms from his brother into the monster who gave the second most powerful witch he's ever met nightmares half a millennium before this moment.
"Be quiet!"
The voice is almost silent. The words that come out next are calm, and all the more horrific for it.
"Actually… how about I loan her to you for a night? You can even pretend to have your precious Elena back for a time. Hell maybe having a bit of fun will make you less of a bore."
Elijah recoils at the thought. And by the widening of Niklaus' smile he guesses some muscle in his face has betrayed his disgust.
"How about I compell her for you as well? Would you like me to tell her she's Elena? How does that human fairytale go? She's been a sleeping princess for a hundred years and a gallant prince rode up to wake her, fought witches and killed dragons for her. And now she can thank him quite properly?"
He knows there are veins slipping onto his face, can feel the teeth elongating and revealing the face of the darkness he's carried around since her death, - in more ways that one because of her death. He hears his own heart pumping borrowed blood through his body until that is all he can feel. His rage burns in him, boils within his stomach in a way so all consuming he does not feel himself breathe, and for a moment Elijah thinks he could actually kill his little brother for this. If only he didn't know how impossible that is.
His own voice is like gravel and hot coals.
"Niklaus. You will remove Katerina's compulsion. Do I make myself clear? And if I see her anywhere near you from now on, I will come and take her away from here myself and you'll be waving goodbye to any hope you have of breaking that curse. Do you understand me?"
He sees as his words register and immediately turns around to leave.
"I'll be waiting outside for her to dress. Do not make me wait."
*o0O0o*
// previous chapter//
*o0O0o*
A/N: What did I even write? God I did not set out to abuse Katherine when I set out writing this I swear, but then Klaus was supposed to seduce her and I kept thinking about how her using the Salvatores as toys had to come from somewhere and things… escalated. But it fits, right? Not that much different than those mute, blonde hot girls parading around the Mikaelson manor like zombies in the third season at least.
And about the couple I implied so heavily I should probably remove the 'implied' - I don't even ship them, but something made me include it. Mostly because there is this one scene a few chapters later that I really, really want to have and so I had to. Plus if I'm flipping the universe around I should mess up the other relationships a bit too.
And… okay I'm sorry about Klaus. I know some of you want him to not be an evil douche because there's more to him than that, but… well Klaus isn't innocent and lily white. And the relationship between the Mikaelsons is pretty damn broken, largely due to what happened exactly during those first 500 years.
P.S. please don't be too mean.