Fic: We Never Had A Choice (The World Is Too Much Noise)
Title: We Never Had A Choice (This World Is Too Much Noise)
Author: lit_chick08
Pairings: Elijah/OFC, Elijah/Elena
Rating: PG-13 for violence and innuendo
Warning: domestic violence
Word Count: 7213
Verse: Show
Spoilers: everything through 2x20 “The Last Day”
Disclaimer: These characters belong to LJ Smith, Kevin Williamson, and Julie Plec
Summary: When he looks at Elena Gilbert, it is not Katherine he sees
A/N: As we don’t know really know what time period Klaus and Elijah were originally from, I make no guarantees as to historical accuracy
Elijah was eight-and-twenty when Niklaus burst into his home, reeking of alcohol. Naomi, his wife, was used to his younger brother’s inability to respect their marital home, but she could not help but scowl as the babies both awoke, angrily shrieking at being forced out of slumber by their uncle’s bellowing tone.
Niklaus was the youngest in their family, the seventh child born to the wealthiest landowners in the country, and Elijah supposed it had lead to him being spoiled. Of all of his siblings, Elijah felt the most responsible for Niklaus, who was constantly bearing the brunt of their father’s anger, who could never seem to achieve the same measure of respectability as the rest of them. Their other brothers were all married with homes of their own, lands of their own; their sisters had married well, were having children. It was only Niklaus who could not seem to find his way, and it felt on Elijah as the oldest to see to it that his baby brother eventually prospered.
As his wife left the living room to attend to the children, Elijah helped Niklaus into a chair, resisting the urge to smooth back his unruly hair the way he had when they were children.
“What is going on? You nearly scared Naomi to death.”
Niklaus released a bark of laughter, rough and disgusted. “What is going on, dear brother, is that everything is a lie.”
Elijah struggled not to roll his eyes. Niklaus had a penchant for over-dramatics, a personality trait he shared with their eldest sister, and everything was always the end of the world.
“What is a lie?”
His little brother finally lifted his head, tears welling in his eyes, and Elijah nearly took a step backwards. While Niklaus was many things, he never cried; their father did not allow for weakness, especially from his sons, and tears were rewarded with lashings.
And then Niklaus told him what had transpired earlier in the evening.
He had come home in his cups, which was hardly a new occurrence; as he stumbled through the household, their father barreled in from the other room, their mother on his heels. The screaming was earsplitting, but Niklaus was used to being shouted at by their father, to being called every name under the sun, to being struck at like he was nothing more than a mule. Elijah had seen the scene unfold countless times with his own eyes; he could picture the expression of rage on his father’s face and the defiance Niklaus refused to ever drop in his presence.
It was then their father had spat, “You are no son of mine! It was my mistake, thinking I could turn Petrov seed into something useful!”
“Petrov seed?” Elijah echoed as Niklaus finished his story, swigging from the jug of mead in his hand. “Are you saying - “
“I am not our father’ son,” Niklaus growled, wiping angrily at his face, pushing his blond hair away from his eyes. “I am nothing more than the bastard spawn of our mother’s shame, not even your real brother.”
“You are my brother,” Elijah objected calmly, taking the jug from his hand, “and blood would never change that. Are you sure he did not say it out of anger, to rile you this way?”
“Mother confirmed it. She…She transgressed with a laborer on our father’s lands, a commoner! Our mother, who would not even let our sisters look at anyone with a hint of roughness to their hands, laid with some stranger who tended the fields!”
Elijah was not someone who was easily surprised, but the image Niklaus painted was certainly enough to shock him. Their mother was a lady, bred to be the wife of an important man; her manners and behavior were always impeccable at all times and she was always quick to stress to Leah, Alexandra, and Darya how important it was to hold your virtue tightly. Elijah would no sooner have believed his mother to have rutted with a laborer as he would believe Niklaus to devote himself to God.
“And his name is Petrov?”
Niklaus nodded, reaching for the jug and scowling when Elijah held it aloft. “Dmitri Petrov. He owns a worthless piece of land on the edge of the county. Mother knew nothing else of him.” Getting unsteadily to his feet, he declared, “I am going to see him.”
Elijah gently laid his hands upon Niklaus’s shoulders, pushing him back into the chair. “You are too drunk to even recognize the road, let alone follow it to the edge of the county. Besides, what will you say to him? How will you introduce yourself? You must temper yourself first and then - and only then - will we discuss visiting.”
“We?” Niklaus echoed.
Elijah smiled. “You hardly think I’m going to send you alone, do you?”
Niklaus gripped his forearm tightly, squeezing it as he pulled Elijah down to his eye level. “You are my favorite brother, Eli. You know this?”
“I know this,” Elijah assured him, “and you are mine as well.”
Elijah carried his brother to a spare room to sleep, carefully drawing the blankets up around his face. Blood or not, Niklaus was his brother, and Elijah would do anything to make sure he was happy.
* * *
“What are you doing here?”
Alexandra slid off of her horse, carefully lifting her skirts to avoid the mud left behind by the recent rain. As Niklaus walked his horse towards Elijah’s stable, needing to switch his ancient mare for one who would not die by the end of the trip, Elijah approached his youngest sister, hugging her closely to him.
If Niklaus was his favorite brother, Alexandra was undoubtedly his favorite sister. Leah was very much like their mother, always concerned with propriety, always striving to project an infallible image; Darya was joyless, never laughing, rarely smiling. But Alexandra acted as if the world around her was the most amusing thing ever to be had, and, when free of their parents’ gazes, transformed into a free-spirited creature Elijah could not help but be envious of. Their parents had married Alexandra off to a man Elijah had not particularly liked, and, when he had perished the previous winter, Alexandra returned home, breathing fresh air into Elijah’s otherwise stale life.
“You do not honestly think I was going to let you two handle this? We might as well send children with all the sensitivity you bring to an issue.”
Elijah scowled playfully, tugging on the ends of Alexandra’s long, golden curls. “You have so little respect for your big brother?”
“I have the highest of respect for you, sweet Elijah, but I trust Klaus no further than I can throw him.”
Elijah laughed at Alexandra’s childhood pet name for their brother. Niklaus and Alexandra were only eleven months apart in age, and, as such, were raised as if they were twins. The two were close - closer even than Elijah and Niklaus - and, even though they were as different as two people could be, Elijah knew Alexandra would move heaven and earth for their brother if required.
As Elijah saddled his horse, Naomi exited the house, their young sons trailing behind her and running to Alexandra with cries of “Aunt Lex!” Elijah smiled as Alexandra enfolded them in her arms, showering kisses upon their small faces.
“How long will you be gone?” Naomi queried softly.
“No more than a day or two,” he assured his wife, brushing a kiss against her cheek. “Will you worry?”
“I always worry when you’re gone,” she murmured, a lock of red hair falling over her cheek.
“You have no reason to worry, my love. Alexandra and I are simply helping Niklaus with something; it is as riskless as breathing.”
“I shall keep him safe, Naomi,” Alexandra promised as she straightened, ruffling her nephews’ hair.
“I do not worry it is you who would endanger him,” Naomi countered as Niklaus rode out of the barn, digging his heels into the sides of Elijah’s best horse.
Elijah knew his wife did not understand the bond between him and his siblings.
Elijah also knew he had no earthly words to describe it.
* * *
The land owned by Dmitri Petrov was pathetic by the standards of which Elijah and his siblings knew. There were only a few fields and a collection of small, sod houses built, a mini-village of family; Elijah had seen places like this before, places where the families had so little money they pooled what they had in order to grasp a piece of the earth as their own. The land Elijah lived on was given to him by his father as a wedding present; he had never worked the land a day in his life.
There were people everywhere, all doing some sort of servants’ work, and Elijah felt their eyes follow the trio of them. In their rich clothing and warm cloaks, atop horses they could never dream of owning, they were the living, breathing embodiment of all they could never attain. Elijah considered it an accident of birth; there was no logical reason some were born rich and some were born.
But knowing this could have been Niklaus’s life made Elijah look at the people a little harder, notice their faces for the first time.
“Can you imagine?” Alexandra whispered under her breath as Elijah helped her down from her horse.
Elijah could not, and, as two young boys ran past him, he suppressed a shudder at the idea that his sons were the same age as those already running errands.
“That is his house,” Niklaus declared, pointing to the largest of the houses.
“What is your plan?”
Niklaus shook his head and Elijah resisted the urge to smack him upside his head.
“You had us come all this way and you do not even know what you will say?”
“I would think he would be happy to meet me,” Niklaus began after a beat. “After all, he has only one sickly son and a handful of daughters.”
“Ah, yes, and how useless daughters are,” Alexandra drawled with a roll of her eyes.
Niklaus pointedly ignored her remark. “I shall go in and tell him who I am and why I am here.”
“Why are you here?” Alexandra pushed.
“Because I am not our father’s son and I am not like the rest of you, and there must be a reason for that!” Niklaus snapped, clearly exasperated.
Elijah sighed, gently patting his brother on the shoulder. “Would you have us come in with you?”
Eye flitting between them, Niklaus decided, “Just Lex; she can entertain his wife while we speak.”
Elijah nodded in understanding. “I’ll tie up the horses and wait.”
As Niklaus and Alexandra disappeared inside the house, Elijah tied the horses up, looking around for a well. When he saw a young woman approaching, two heavy pails of water hanging across her shoulders, Elijah softly requested she stop, stepping into her path.
“Excuse me but where is your well? Our horses need water rather desperately.”
Carefully setting the water on the ground, the woman slipped beneath the wooden brace, flipping her dark hair back from her face as she stood to face him. Elijah struggled to swallow back his gasp.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
“It is down that path a ways, past a grove of trees but before the wildflowers. However, if you need the water now, you may have some of mine if you help me fetch more.”
Elijah would have agreed to anything in that moment, dumbly nodding and watching as the woman set the pails before the horses.
“Do you have business with my father?”
“I’m sorry?”
The woman smiled in amusement, and Elijah’s heart skipped a beat. “You have tethered your horses outside my father’s home. Do you have business with him?”
“My brother does. I am simply keeping him company.”
“Not many men of your station have business with my father,” the woman observed, petting the head of Alexandra’s horse. “Do you require some sort of help in your fields?”
“It is a personal matter.”
She nodded, scratching the horse’s ears. “This is a beautiful animal. My husband, he longs to have a horse as fine as this.”
“I have many horses,” Elijah stated before swiftly kicking himself.
The woman’s mouth quirked into a peculiar expression, and it took a moment for him to realize she thought he was mocking her husband.
“What I mean to say is, I could sell your husband a horse at a reasonable price,” he rushed on, taking a step closer to her.
“That is very kind of you, sir, but I do believe I am not allowed to make business transactions with strangers on his behalf.”
Elijah smiled. “My name is Elijah.”
“Elijah?” she echoed. “The Lord Elijah?” Instantly she dropped into a curtsy, her dark hair falling across her face like a curtain. “I am so sorry, milord, for not recognizing you. I should not have spoken so baldly - “
“It is alright,” he cut in, brazenly reaching for her hand and bringing it to his mouth to kiss it. “And who might you be?”
“Mila Petrova,” she responded automatically before correcting herself, offering her husband’s name instead. “I have only been married for a year; it is still foreign to refer to myself by anything other than my father’s name.”
“And we are to fetch more water, yes?”
Mila immediately shook her head. “No, milord, you do not - “
“We made a deal, did we not? I would be completely dishonorable if I did not carry out my part. Perhaps you can tell me about your life here.”
“I am sure it will bore you. Your life must be so…extraordinary.”
“I would very much like to hear it.”
She spoke the entire way to the well, describing her family in such vivid detail Elijah felt as if he had already met them; he tried not to focus on the fact that Mila’s family was also Niklaus’s, that the father she spoke of with such long and affection had compromised his parents’ marriage, his mother’s honor. Mila spoke at length about the daughter she gave birth to only two months earlier but barely mentioned her husband, her face darkening when Elijah inquired about him. When she asked him to tell her about his life, Elijah found himself not discussing Naomi or his sons; he told stories of his exploits with his brothers, his fondness for Alexandra, his childhood rivalry with Leah. Mila giggled as he imitated his brother Joshua, and Elijah knew it was the most wondrous sound he had ever heard.
As they reached the horses, Elijah saw Alexandra and Niklaus nearby, and he found himself tensing before realizing Niklaus was smiling.
“Is that Niklaus and Alexandra?” Mila queried, arms full of wildflowers as Elijah had offered to bear the weight of the heavy pails.
“Yes,” he confirmed as he removed the water from his shoulders. “Thank you for the assistance.”
Mila blushed. “Thank you, milord.”
“Elijah,” he corrected softly, wanting to hear her say his name one last time.
“Elijah,” she dutifully repeated, her lips curling into a smile before picking up the pails and continuing down the path.
“Who was that?” Niklaus drawled, lustily watching Mila as she walked away.
“Your sister,” Elijah brusquely replied, tugging his horse free.
Niklaus spoke of his meeting with Dmitri the entire ride home, and Elijah could hear the hope in his voice. Their father - correction, Elijah’s father - had never treated Niklaus any way but poorly, and it was obvious Niklaus wanted Dmitri to be the father he had so longed to have. Elijah hoped his brother would not be disappointed.
“I am returning to meet the rest of the family in a fortnight,” Niklaus declared as Elijah’s home rose in the distance. “You will come, won’t you, brother?”
Thinking of Mila, he nodded.
As Niklaus rode hard towards the house, a shout of excitement slipping from his lips, Alexandra cantered up beside Elijah and observed, “You are smitten with the girl.”
“Alexandra - “
“She is pretty,” Alexandra allowed, “but she is young, Eli, barely six-and-ten I’d wager. And she is Klaus’s sister. If you do anything to besmirch her honor - “
“I would never do such a thing, and I’m hurt you would believe I would.”
“I have seen men do far worse for far less attractive women.” Face softening, Alexandra sighed. “Are you unhappy with Naomi?”
He was not. In the past ten year, Elijah had grown to love Naomi, who loved him deeply in return. It was not a question of happiness.
It was a question of passion, and Mila Petrova had been brimming with it.
“No, I am not unhappy.” With a smirk, he added, “Perhaps you and Klaus’s sickly brother can make a match.”
The name Alexandra called him was hardly appropriate for a lady to know, let alone use.
* * *
When Elijah and Niklaus arrived at Dmitri’s home two weeks later, there was a table erected outside, people crowding in on the benches, more food than their income would allow spread out as a feast. Elijah knew instantly Dmitri was trying to show Niklaus they were not paupers, that they were capable of providing as good of a meal as he would receive at home; Elijah could not help but cynically wonder how long it would take for Niklaus’s new father to ask for money.
Elijah watched as the crowd seemed to swallow Niklaus, greeting him with more enthusiasm than he had ever received at home, and Elijah could not help but feel grateful his brother was finally feeling the love he so desperately wanted. Niklaus needed more love than anyone Elijah had ever met, and the Petrovs seemed to have it in spades.
It was a movement at the edge of the crowd which caught Elijah’s attention. There, in a dark dress, her hair hanging in waves over her shoulders, was Mila, a somber expression on her face which did not match her family and neighbors. Elijah could not help but go to her, wondering what had happened to make her so sad.
He was within arm’s reach of her when he saw the dark, purple bruise around her right eye, blemishing the otherwise perfect olive skin. Elijah’s father had never struck his mother, but he knew what it looked like; he had seen servants arguing, had watched men who as strong as bears knock women to the ground as if they were insects. The idea Mila’s husband struck her filled Elijah with a rage he had never experienced in his life.
“Are you alright?” he asked by way of greeting, fists clenching as he noticed finger shaped bruises on her arm.
Mila momentarily froze before attempting to sidestep the question entirely. “It is a grand celebration, is it not? Why, we share a brother now!”
“Are you alright?” Elijah repeated, his voice softer, nearly swallowed by the noise of the crowd.
Mila sighed, her hands rising to rub at her arms, vainly attempting to keep the cold away. “I am fine, milord.”
Elijah had never taken liberties with a woman. Unlike his brothers, who viewed women as sport, Elijah believed in the rules which governed society; he took the vows he made to Naomi seriously and had never once considered straying from his marriage, even after Darya’s sister-in-law made it well-known she would be open to such advances.
And yet Elijah could not help gently turning Mila’s face so he could look at the bruise, bringing their mouths criminally close, before whispering, “You do not look fine, my love.”
Mila’s eyes welled with tears but before Elijah could do anything, Dmitri began to call for her, urging her into the throng to greet Niklaus. Elijah gritted his teeth in frustration, pouring himself a mug of mead, watching as Niklaus pulled Mila into his body, face alight with laughter.
* * *
Elijah was drunk.
Elijah was, in fact, so drunk they could not travel back home, a fact Niklaus found so thoroughly amusing he nearly laughed himself sick even as he helped Elijah into the bed Dmitri offered them. As Niklaus teasingly lectured him on his wild habits, Elijah thought of Mila, the sadness in her eyes, and how desperately he wanted to make it go away.
As the sun started to rise over the horizon, Elijah forced himself out of bed, Niklaus snoring beside him, and stumbled out into the morning, breathing deep. His stomach protested quick movement, and Elijah found himself on his knees, the food he consumed the day before now decorating the grass.
With a groan, he heaved himself to his feet, following the path towards the well, desperately needing water to clean his mouth.
He was still seated beside the well, his head resting against the stone, when he heard footsteps approaching. Lifting his head, hoping it was not an animal, Elijah could not help but smile as Mila came into view, empty pails in her hands.
“Good morning.”
Mila jumped in the air, the pails falling to the ground. “Oh, Elijah, you scared me!”
“I am sorry.”
“What are you doing here so early?” she asked as she gathered the pails.
“I was thirsty.” Climbing to his feet, he admitted, “I was a bit in my cups.”
“I am familiar with the signs,” she snapped, approaching the lip of the well.
“Was your husband in his cups when he hit you?” Elijah found himself asking, startled by his own brazenness.
Mila recoiled, spinning to face him, her lower lip trembling. “I do not know you, sir, and I certainly do not know you well enough to discuss my marriage. I ask you to please - “
“No one should ever hit you,” Elijah interrupted softly, struggling to keep his voice even. “I would never hit you.”
“Then I suppose it is bad luck you are not my husband,” she rasped, tears spilling onto her cheeks.
Elijah kissed her then, sweetly and tenderly as the sun rose above them.
* * *
“There are rumors,” Alexandra began months later as she and Elijah walked the grounds of their parents’ estate.
“What did Niklaus do this time?”
“They are not about Niklaus; they are about you.”
“Me?”
“There are rumors,” Alexandra continued, “that you are keeping a mistress, which in itself would not be particularly scandalous; Joshua and Mikael each have two. What has the potential to bring scandal is they say this girl has a child which has quickened in her stomach, a child which is not her husband’s.”
Elijah struggled not to think of the gentle roundness of Mila’s stomach beneath her gown, of the excitement in his chest when he felt the movement beneath her skin. “I did not think you one to listen to idle gossip, Lex.”
“Is it gossip? Naomi tells me you’ve been away recently on business.”
“You’ve spoken to Naomi about this?!” he snapped, legitimately angry at his sister for the first time in recent memory.
Alexandra jerked away, unlinking their arms with surprising violence. “How could you do this, Elijah? How could you be so utterly careless?”
“This is none of your concern.”
“You have done to that Petrova girl what our mother did to our father! If you need to conduct an affair, you do so discreetly and take measures to make sure you do not have a child from it! Honestly, Elijah, what were you thinking?!”
“I love her!” Elijah declared, throwing his arms up in frustration. “Mila…She is not some girl I bedded for the pleasure of it. I love her, Alexandra, and I want to be with her.”
“And what about Naomi and your boys? What about Klaus?”
“To hell with Klaus! I am so god-awful sick of thinking about Klaus!”
Alexandra froze, eyes widening in disbelief. Finally she gasped, “Who are you? Niklaus worships you, and when he finds out how you have dishonored his sister, it will kill him. If her husband finds out, there is a very real chance he will kill you. The Petrovs are not like us, Elijah; you have heard the stories.”
“What, of the men turning into wolves by the light of the full moon? You do not believe that.”
“I believe there are forces at play here we shouldn’t taunt because you have found a woman who spreads so easily.”
Elijah clutched Alexandra’s shoulders, shouting, “You do not speak of her that way!”
She broke the hold easily, pushing Elijah back as she had when they were children. “And you do not forget your allegiance is to this family first! This girl, this Mila, does not belong to you, and you are risking everything you have built by pretending that she does.” Smoothing her skirts, she sighed, “Sometimes I believe you are even dumber than Klaus when it comes to matters of the world.”
And then Alexandra walked away, leaving Elijah with her words.
* * *
“We could run away,” Elijah suggested as he and Mila lied entangled in her bed, his fingers combing through her dark curls.
Elijah had only glimpsed Mila’s husband a few times; he was always away for work, refusing to use the land Dmitri had given them as a wedding present. It was a lonely existence for Mila but it provided them with a warm bed to use. Elijah had gotten used to slipping unseen into the house, playing at domesticity with his love.
“Where would we run?” Mila asked, her tone encouraging as she drew circles on his chest.
“Far away, across oceans if we need to; we will go wherever we are able to live as we want to live.”
“And what will we do when we get there?”
“We shall have two dozen children with your eyes and live the happiest existence ever to have been lived.”
Mila chuckled, kissing the patch of skin before her. “But what of my daughter and your sons? Shall we take them with us?”
“If you wish it.”
Mila sat up, tossing a leg over his hips, straddling him with a smile. “You would give me anything I ask,” she stated, awe in her voice.
“Of course,” Elijah replied instantly, tracing a path down her shoulder, over her breasts, and stopping at the firm bulge of her stomach. “You are my love.”
“And you are mine,” Mila vowed, leaning down to kiss him.
They were mid-kiss when the door burst open, startling them apart, Mila’s daughter screaming in the other room. Elijah barely had time to focus on the men entering the house before a fist slammed into his jaw and hands jerked Mila away, dragging her naked out the door. He screamed her name as another punch landed in his stomach, and Elijah knew this was the end.
A blow to his head disoriented him. By the time he was aware of his surroundings, all Elijah could see was a ring of fire. It took a moment to realize Mila was inside the circle, bound to a post, and Elijah began to fight against the hands that held him, desperate to get to the woman he loved, ready to die beside her.
The full moon was high in the sky, and Elijah heard the snarling before he saw the wolf being lead into the circle by Mila’s husband, an opalescent stone in his hand. Elijah cried out as his shoulder was wrenched from place as he was pulled inside and shouted again as her husband sliced open his arm, gathering the blood on the stone.
He cut the wolf, its blood joining Elijah’s on the stone, and Elijah crawled to Mila, nude and sobbing, her wrists rubbed raw from trying to free herself.
“Run, my love,” she ordered through her tears. “He will kill us all.”
Elijah screamed as the knife pierced Mila’s heart, a scream which only increased as the worst pain Elijah ever felt shot through his body as Mila’s husband chanted words in a language Elijah did not know. He twisted on the ground, crying out for a salvation that did not come, and, when the fires went out, Elijah prayed he was dead.
Instead, Mila’s husband grabbed him by his injured arm and growled into his face, “You’re damned now. And when you see her face again, you’ll be damned all over again.”
Elijah lost consciousness.
When he awoke, the moon still hung high and the people were gone, but Mila’s still body remained beside him. Elijah gathered her against him, an all-consuming despair filling him, and, as he wept, he began to notice the smell.
It was the richest, most wondrous scent he had ever encountered, and it took Elijah several moments to realize it was the blood coating his hands. Unable to resist, his tongue flicked out to gather it, cleaning himself, and Elijah felt a sharp pain in his jaw as fangs descended. Panicking, he pulled away from Mila and got to his feet, instinct shouting at him to find Niklaus.
He did not need his horse; he could suddenly run faster than any animal, and, by the time Elijah reached his home, daylight was starting to creep over the horizon. As he threw open the door, Elijah found himself unable to cross the threshold, pushing against an invisible barrier. He called for Naomi, who, worried at the sight he presented, immediately ordered him inside.
It was not until the sun’s first beams came through the windows Elijah learned the sunlight burned him.
“What is going on?” Naomi cried as he huddled beneath a cloak in the root cellar.
Elijah could not answer. Instead, he waited for night fall and went to find Niklaus as quickly as he could.
Niklaus, Alexandra, and the rest of his siblings were on the lawn when he arrived, all with faces as hideous as his own, fangs in all of their mouths.
“What has happened to us?” Leah wept against Mikael’s shoulder, her body quaking with the effort to remain upright.
And so Elijah told the story of what transpired only a day earlier, of what Mila’s husband had done to them. By the time he was finished, Elijah saw the resolution in his brothers’ eyes, a resolution made all the more clear when Joshua announced his plan for vengeance.
“We do not kill the Petrovs,” Niklaus warned. “We may need them.”
Only Alexandra remained behind, her fangs receding as she glared at Elijah.
“This is all my fault.”
“Yes,” Alexandra agreed, her voice hateful, “it mostly certainly is.”
“Lex - “
“Stop. I have nothing more to say to you, Elijah, in this life or the innumerable lives we shall live because of this curse. I warned you of the consequences, and now our entire family is damned. Your girl is dead. We are dead.”
“Alexandra - “
“This will be the last time you ever see me,” she vowed, gathering her hair into a single, long braid. “And if for some reason you find me in the future, do not speak to me. Do not call me by name. Do not act as if I am anything to you other than a stranger. As of this moment, I am not your sister, you are not my brother, and I am not a member of this family.”
Tears burned in Elijah’s eyes. “Please, no, Lexi - “
Alexandra recoiled from his pet name for her as if it was the most poisonous of snakes. “I am nothing to you, Elijah, and you are nothing to me ever again.”
And then she was gone too.
* * *
Niklaus returned before dawn with two rings, his clothing positively saturated with blood. He slipped the silver and lapis lazuli onto Elijah’s finger and declared, “Now we can walk in the daylight again.”
Elijah listened numbly as Niklaus explained what had happened on his father’s land, on the savagery his siblings had committed. Niklaus described in graphic detail what happened to Mila’s husband, how he had extracted information about the curse from him, how he forced him to make the rings before killing him.
“I buried Mila,” Niklaus assured him, a kind smile on his face, “and I took her daughter to my father to raise.”
“Thank you.”
Niklaus nodded. “We are brothers. It is only right.”
“You do not hate me?”
Niklaus leaned forward, a calculating grin on his face. “Her useless husband told me, because I am of this bloodline and of the Petrovs, if the curse is broken, I will be able to sire an entirely new race upon this earth. We will make them pay ten thousand times over for what they have done to Mila, to us.”
“But we will have to kill a girl who looks exactly like Mila to do it,” Elijah reminded him, spinning his daylight ring on his finger.
Niklaus shrugged. “But she will not be Mila, so what does it matter?” Getting to his feet, Niklaus picked up the remaining ring and asked, “Where did Lexi go? I want to give her hers.”
“She left,” Elijah reported numbly.
Niklaus paused, genuine pain on his face, before it disappeared as quickly as a candle going out. “Well, then, she’s going to miss all the fun.”
* * *
As the flames rose around the sacrifices, Elijah saw Elena, bound between Jenna and Jules, tears staining her face as she struggled, Klaus laughing at her ineffectual movements. Elijah caught sight of Greta and Bonnie, the magic crackling against his skin, and Elijah was suddenly frozen as the single worst moment of his life played out again.
He wasn’t sure when he made his move, but Elijah was suddenly in the circle, surprise on Klaus’s face.
“I heard you were dead, brother,” he drawled, amusement in his voice. “Who woke you up?”
Elijah held tightly to the dagger Alaric and Elena had planted in his chest, the one which would do nothing against his brother. “Does it matter?”
Klaus smirked, acting as if there was not a battle raging around them. “Ah…I should have known. You always did have a weakness for the women of my bloodline.” He reached down, jerking Elena to her feet, a scream garbled in her throat.
“Do you love this one, too, brother? They’ve all been so different; is it the face you love? Do you look at her and pretend to see my sister? Do you call her Mila in your dreams?” Klaus laughed, low and cruel. “Maybe I’ll have a crack at this one, too. After all, Katerina was so delightful. And girls today…Well, I’m sure Elena here has a wealth of information to share with me.”
Elena whimpered, lashing out with her leg, her kick doing nothing as Klaus shook her like a rag doll.
“I will kill you,” Elijah swore, allowing the monster to fill his face.
“Alone? You could never do anything by yourself, Eli.”
Elijah started as a blade appeared in Klaus’s chest, a roar exploding from him as he threw Elena to the ground.
“He’s not alone, asshole,” Alexandra growled, twisting the knife as she kicked Klaus in the center of his back.
Elijah had not seen his sister in a thousand years, but Alexandra looked exactly as she had the night she walked away from the family. Her hair was still plaited down her back, her eyes still glowed with rage, and she still bore a striking resemblance to Klaus. In her dark jeans and tank top, Alexandra could have passed for any other young woman, and, when she spoke, there was not a trace of an accent to her voice.
He heard Elena breathe her name, shock in her voice, but Elijah did not have time to question how Elena knew Alexandra, not when Alexandra was screaming, “Stefan, get here out of here!” as Klaus tackled the sister he once loved so desperately to the ground.
Elijah moved quickly, reaching through Greta’s chest before the witch had a moment to split focus from her fight with Bonnie and wrenching her heart free from her body. As the witch dropped, Elijah looked to Bonnie and ordered, “Kill him now.”
Klaus had Alexandra pinned to the ground, screaming at her in their native tongue, the rage and betrayal in his voice so sharp Elijah could hear the man he had once been, felt the compulsion to appease his baby brother. Elijah wondered if it would always be there, if even after Klaus was long gone, he would feel his brother like a phantom pain.
“It doesn’t have to be this way!” Alexandra shouted as she flipped them, grunting as Klaus planted the knife in her shoulder.
Before Klaus says anything, Elijah knew it was a lie. It was always going to end this way; the die had been cast long ago by the decisions Elijah had made with Mila Petrova and this was the only one it could finish.
The explosion of light Bonnie channeled was blinding, blowing all of them backwards. When Elijah was able to get to his feet, Klaus lied on the ground beside Alexandra, perfectly still. Elijah suddenly had the strongest memory of watching Niklaus sleep when they were children; he had nearly died of fever, and Elijah snuck into his chamber to make sure he was still breathing. When Niklaus woke up, he had smiled and said his name as if Elijah was hero.
The flames died, the full moon providing the only light in the clearing. Elijah dimly heard the voices of the others, but all he could see was Alexandra, who closed Klaus’s eyes before taking his hand in her own. The prayer she whispered over his body was the same their mother taught them, the one asking God to protect them.
Elijah had stopped believing in God centuries ago, but he hoped there was some sort of peace awaiting his brother.
“Niklaus,” Alexandra moaned, tears on her face, her original accent heavy.
Elijah knelt beside the body, carefully pulling Alexandra back. She turned, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck, her tears warm against Elijah’s throat. And despite the hatred he had felt for 500 years, Elijah allowed himself to cry as well.
Mila’s husband had taken away their humanity.
Nothing would ever take away their bond.
* * *
They buried Klaus beneath a tree near Willow Creek at a spot Alexandra picked. Stefan offered to help them dig the grave out of loyalty to Alexandra, but they politely refused, digging into the earth themselves. They didn’t speak as they did it; they were past words now. As they covered Klaus’s body with dirt, Alexandra finally said, “I forgave you a long time ago, you know.”
“I suppose I should say thank you.”
She shook her head, wiping at the dirt and sweat on her brow. “No, it was wrong of me to blame you. You were in love, and there was no way you could’ve known what he’d do to us, what we’d become. I blamed you for centuries; I thought Klaus became what he did because of you.”
“What changed?”
“It started to eat me alive, make it impossible to feel anything but hatred. I didn’t want to live forever feeling that way. And now…It was a different life, Eli. We were different.”
“Yes, we were,” he agreed.
“She loves Stefan,” Alexandra said after a beat.
“Yes.”
“But you love her anyway.”
“Yes.”
Alexandra sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. “Maybe we aren’t so different than we used to be after all.”
* * *
From the moment he saw Katerina 500 years earlier, Elijah came to terms with the fact there would be another woman with the face of his dead lover. He could look at Katerina and not feel a whisper of memory about Mila; even at her most vulnerable, Katerina was too knowledgeable to ever be mistaken for the first Petrova woman he had known. And in the beginning, he had felt that way about Elena as well; she was the perfect replica of Mila but there was nothing about the way she acted which was similar.
But Elijah had known without a doubt, the second she returned to him that day at the Lockwood Mansion, that he loved her.
In the aftermath of the sacrifice, calm descended over Mystic Falls. Elijah watched as his sister and Stefan Salvatore romped through the woods around the house, their laughter echoing amongst the trees; he witnessed Jenna struggling to come to terms with her newfound vampirism; he smelled the scent of the werewolf all over Caroline’s body. And Elijah knew then there was no place for him there any longer.
He found Elena in the cemetery; she sat crosslegged at her parents’ grave, her journal opened on her lap. She smiled at his approach, marking her place as she closed the journal.
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you. Jeremy mentioned you come here sometimes to write.”
“Is something wrong?” When Elijah looked at her blankly, she clarified, “Because you’re looking for me.”
Elijah chuckled. “No, I was coming to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye? You’re leaving?”
“Mystic Falls isn’t my home. I came here to make sure Klaus was no longer a threat, and we accomplished that. I see no reason to remain.”
Elena got to her feet, setting her journal atop her parents’ headstone. “But Lexi’s staying here for awhile. You don’t want - “
“I will have forever to spend time with Lexi. I feel my time is up here.”
They were quiet for a beat before Elena asked, “Do you regret killing Klaus?”
“No,” Elijah instantly answered.
And then, just as he had done hundreds of years earlier, Elijah acted impulsively, brushing Elena’s hair back from her face, tucking a lock behind her ear. She shivered under the touch, and Elijah wished with everything inside of him it was not from fear.
“He would have killed you, and, if he didn’t, you would have been as broken as Katerina. I would kill him a thousand times before I ever let that happen.”
Elena smiled softly before confessing, “I think I’m going to miss you.”
It had been a very long time since anyone had missed Elijah.
“Should you ever need anything, you should not hesitate to call me.”
“You’d come?”
“I would.”
Awe filled Elena’s face as she marveled, “You really mean that.”
“Of course.”
Elijah was surprised when she sprung forward to wrap her arms around him, hugging him tightly against her. He allowed himself to revel in the feel of her body against his, taking in the sweet scent of her perfume and the warm tang of her blood. It would have been easy to kiss her in that moment, to see how she would react.
But Elena was not Mila, and Elijah knew her well enough to know if she wanted to be kissed, she would kiss him herself.
She only brushed her lips against his cheek and sighed, “Thank you.”
As Elijah left Mystic Falls, he prayed with everything he had that Elena Gilbert was the last Petrova doppelganger.
His heart could not bear to love another.
Author: lit_chick08
Pairings: Elijah/OFC, Elijah/Elena
Rating: PG-13 for violence and innuendo
Warning: domestic violence
Word Count: 7213
Verse: Show
Spoilers: everything through 2x20 “The Last Day”
Disclaimer: These characters belong to LJ Smith, Kevin Williamson, and Julie Plec
Summary: When he looks at Elena Gilbert, it is not Katherine he sees
A/N: As we don’t know really know what time period Klaus and Elijah were originally from, I make no guarantees as to historical accuracy
Elijah was eight-and-twenty when Niklaus burst into his home, reeking of alcohol. Naomi, his wife, was used to his younger brother’s inability to respect their marital home, but she could not help but scowl as the babies both awoke, angrily shrieking at being forced out of slumber by their uncle’s bellowing tone.
Niklaus was the youngest in their family, the seventh child born to the wealthiest landowners in the country, and Elijah supposed it had lead to him being spoiled. Of all of his siblings, Elijah felt the most responsible for Niklaus, who was constantly bearing the brunt of their father’s anger, who could never seem to achieve the same measure of respectability as the rest of them. Their other brothers were all married with homes of their own, lands of their own; their sisters had married well, were having children. It was only Niklaus who could not seem to find his way, and it felt on Elijah as the oldest to see to it that his baby brother eventually prospered.
As his wife left the living room to attend to the children, Elijah helped Niklaus into a chair, resisting the urge to smooth back his unruly hair the way he had when they were children.
“What is going on? You nearly scared Naomi to death.”
Niklaus released a bark of laughter, rough and disgusted. “What is going on, dear brother, is that everything is a lie.”
Elijah struggled not to roll his eyes. Niklaus had a penchant for over-dramatics, a personality trait he shared with their eldest sister, and everything was always the end of the world.
“What is a lie?”
His little brother finally lifted his head, tears welling in his eyes, and Elijah nearly took a step backwards. While Niklaus was many things, he never cried; their father did not allow for weakness, especially from his sons, and tears were rewarded with lashings.
And then Niklaus told him what had transpired earlier in the evening.
He had come home in his cups, which was hardly a new occurrence; as he stumbled through the household, their father barreled in from the other room, their mother on his heels. The screaming was earsplitting, but Niklaus was used to being shouted at by their father, to being called every name under the sun, to being struck at like he was nothing more than a mule. Elijah had seen the scene unfold countless times with his own eyes; he could picture the expression of rage on his father’s face and the defiance Niklaus refused to ever drop in his presence.
It was then their father had spat, “You are no son of mine! It was my mistake, thinking I could turn Petrov seed into something useful!”
“Petrov seed?” Elijah echoed as Niklaus finished his story, swigging from the jug of mead in his hand. “Are you saying - “
“I am not our father’ son,” Niklaus growled, wiping angrily at his face, pushing his blond hair away from his eyes. “I am nothing more than the bastard spawn of our mother’s shame, not even your real brother.”
“You are my brother,” Elijah objected calmly, taking the jug from his hand, “and blood would never change that. Are you sure he did not say it out of anger, to rile you this way?”
“Mother confirmed it. She…She transgressed with a laborer on our father’s lands, a commoner! Our mother, who would not even let our sisters look at anyone with a hint of roughness to their hands, laid with some stranger who tended the fields!”
Elijah was not someone who was easily surprised, but the image Niklaus painted was certainly enough to shock him. Their mother was a lady, bred to be the wife of an important man; her manners and behavior were always impeccable at all times and she was always quick to stress to Leah, Alexandra, and Darya how important it was to hold your virtue tightly. Elijah would no sooner have believed his mother to have rutted with a laborer as he would believe Niklaus to devote himself to God.
“And his name is Petrov?”
Niklaus nodded, reaching for the jug and scowling when Elijah held it aloft. “Dmitri Petrov. He owns a worthless piece of land on the edge of the county. Mother knew nothing else of him.” Getting unsteadily to his feet, he declared, “I am going to see him.”
Elijah gently laid his hands upon Niklaus’s shoulders, pushing him back into the chair. “You are too drunk to even recognize the road, let alone follow it to the edge of the county. Besides, what will you say to him? How will you introduce yourself? You must temper yourself first and then - and only then - will we discuss visiting.”
“We?” Niklaus echoed.
Elijah smiled. “You hardly think I’m going to send you alone, do you?”
Niklaus gripped his forearm tightly, squeezing it as he pulled Elijah down to his eye level. “You are my favorite brother, Eli. You know this?”
“I know this,” Elijah assured him, “and you are mine as well.”
Elijah carried his brother to a spare room to sleep, carefully drawing the blankets up around his face. Blood or not, Niklaus was his brother, and Elijah would do anything to make sure he was happy.
* * *
“What are you doing here?”
Alexandra slid off of her horse, carefully lifting her skirts to avoid the mud left behind by the recent rain. As Niklaus walked his horse towards Elijah’s stable, needing to switch his ancient mare for one who would not die by the end of the trip, Elijah approached his youngest sister, hugging her closely to him.
If Niklaus was his favorite brother, Alexandra was undoubtedly his favorite sister. Leah was very much like their mother, always concerned with propriety, always striving to project an infallible image; Darya was joyless, never laughing, rarely smiling. But Alexandra acted as if the world around her was the most amusing thing ever to be had, and, when free of their parents’ gazes, transformed into a free-spirited creature Elijah could not help but be envious of. Their parents had married Alexandra off to a man Elijah had not particularly liked, and, when he had perished the previous winter, Alexandra returned home, breathing fresh air into Elijah’s otherwise stale life.
“You do not honestly think I was going to let you two handle this? We might as well send children with all the sensitivity you bring to an issue.”
Elijah scowled playfully, tugging on the ends of Alexandra’s long, golden curls. “You have so little respect for your big brother?”
“I have the highest of respect for you, sweet Elijah, but I trust Klaus no further than I can throw him.”
Elijah laughed at Alexandra’s childhood pet name for their brother. Niklaus and Alexandra were only eleven months apart in age, and, as such, were raised as if they were twins. The two were close - closer even than Elijah and Niklaus - and, even though they were as different as two people could be, Elijah knew Alexandra would move heaven and earth for their brother if required.
As Elijah saddled his horse, Naomi exited the house, their young sons trailing behind her and running to Alexandra with cries of “Aunt Lex!” Elijah smiled as Alexandra enfolded them in her arms, showering kisses upon their small faces.
“How long will you be gone?” Naomi queried softly.
“No more than a day or two,” he assured his wife, brushing a kiss against her cheek. “Will you worry?”
“I always worry when you’re gone,” she murmured, a lock of red hair falling over her cheek.
“You have no reason to worry, my love. Alexandra and I are simply helping Niklaus with something; it is as riskless as breathing.”
“I shall keep him safe, Naomi,” Alexandra promised as she straightened, ruffling her nephews’ hair.
“I do not worry it is you who would endanger him,” Naomi countered as Niklaus rode out of the barn, digging his heels into the sides of Elijah’s best horse.
Elijah knew his wife did not understand the bond between him and his siblings.
Elijah also knew he had no earthly words to describe it.
* * *
The land owned by Dmitri Petrov was pathetic by the standards of which Elijah and his siblings knew. There were only a few fields and a collection of small, sod houses built, a mini-village of family; Elijah had seen places like this before, places where the families had so little money they pooled what they had in order to grasp a piece of the earth as their own. The land Elijah lived on was given to him by his father as a wedding present; he had never worked the land a day in his life.
There were people everywhere, all doing some sort of servants’ work, and Elijah felt their eyes follow the trio of them. In their rich clothing and warm cloaks, atop horses they could never dream of owning, they were the living, breathing embodiment of all they could never attain. Elijah considered it an accident of birth; there was no logical reason some were born rich and some were born.
But knowing this could have been Niklaus’s life made Elijah look at the people a little harder, notice their faces for the first time.
“Can you imagine?” Alexandra whispered under her breath as Elijah helped her down from her horse.
Elijah could not, and, as two young boys ran past him, he suppressed a shudder at the idea that his sons were the same age as those already running errands.
“That is his house,” Niklaus declared, pointing to the largest of the houses.
“What is your plan?”
Niklaus shook his head and Elijah resisted the urge to smack him upside his head.
“You had us come all this way and you do not even know what you will say?”
“I would think he would be happy to meet me,” Niklaus began after a beat. “After all, he has only one sickly son and a handful of daughters.”
“Ah, yes, and how useless daughters are,” Alexandra drawled with a roll of her eyes.
Niklaus pointedly ignored her remark. “I shall go in and tell him who I am and why I am here.”
“Why are you here?” Alexandra pushed.
“Because I am not our father’s son and I am not like the rest of you, and there must be a reason for that!” Niklaus snapped, clearly exasperated.
Elijah sighed, gently patting his brother on the shoulder. “Would you have us come in with you?”
Eye flitting between them, Niklaus decided, “Just Lex; she can entertain his wife while we speak.”
Elijah nodded in understanding. “I’ll tie up the horses and wait.”
As Niklaus and Alexandra disappeared inside the house, Elijah tied the horses up, looking around for a well. When he saw a young woman approaching, two heavy pails of water hanging across her shoulders, Elijah softly requested she stop, stepping into her path.
“Excuse me but where is your well? Our horses need water rather desperately.”
Carefully setting the water on the ground, the woman slipped beneath the wooden brace, flipping her dark hair back from her face as she stood to face him. Elijah struggled to swallow back his gasp.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
“It is down that path a ways, past a grove of trees but before the wildflowers. However, if you need the water now, you may have some of mine if you help me fetch more.”
Elijah would have agreed to anything in that moment, dumbly nodding and watching as the woman set the pails before the horses.
“Do you have business with my father?”
“I’m sorry?”
The woman smiled in amusement, and Elijah’s heart skipped a beat. “You have tethered your horses outside my father’s home. Do you have business with him?”
“My brother does. I am simply keeping him company.”
“Not many men of your station have business with my father,” the woman observed, petting the head of Alexandra’s horse. “Do you require some sort of help in your fields?”
“It is a personal matter.”
She nodded, scratching the horse’s ears. “This is a beautiful animal. My husband, he longs to have a horse as fine as this.”
“I have many horses,” Elijah stated before swiftly kicking himself.
The woman’s mouth quirked into a peculiar expression, and it took a moment for him to realize she thought he was mocking her husband.
“What I mean to say is, I could sell your husband a horse at a reasonable price,” he rushed on, taking a step closer to her.
“That is very kind of you, sir, but I do believe I am not allowed to make business transactions with strangers on his behalf.”
Elijah smiled. “My name is Elijah.”
“Elijah?” she echoed. “The Lord Elijah?” Instantly she dropped into a curtsy, her dark hair falling across her face like a curtain. “I am so sorry, milord, for not recognizing you. I should not have spoken so baldly - “
“It is alright,” he cut in, brazenly reaching for her hand and bringing it to his mouth to kiss it. “And who might you be?”
“Mila Petrova,” she responded automatically before correcting herself, offering her husband’s name instead. “I have only been married for a year; it is still foreign to refer to myself by anything other than my father’s name.”
“And we are to fetch more water, yes?”
Mila immediately shook her head. “No, milord, you do not - “
“We made a deal, did we not? I would be completely dishonorable if I did not carry out my part. Perhaps you can tell me about your life here.”
“I am sure it will bore you. Your life must be so…extraordinary.”
“I would very much like to hear it.”
She spoke the entire way to the well, describing her family in such vivid detail Elijah felt as if he had already met them; he tried not to focus on the fact that Mila’s family was also Niklaus’s, that the father she spoke of with such long and affection had compromised his parents’ marriage, his mother’s honor. Mila spoke at length about the daughter she gave birth to only two months earlier but barely mentioned her husband, her face darkening when Elijah inquired about him. When she asked him to tell her about his life, Elijah found himself not discussing Naomi or his sons; he told stories of his exploits with his brothers, his fondness for Alexandra, his childhood rivalry with Leah. Mila giggled as he imitated his brother Joshua, and Elijah knew it was the most wondrous sound he had ever heard.
As they reached the horses, Elijah saw Alexandra and Niklaus nearby, and he found himself tensing before realizing Niklaus was smiling.
“Is that Niklaus and Alexandra?” Mila queried, arms full of wildflowers as Elijah had offered to bear the weight of the heavy pails.
“Yes,” he confirmed as he removed the water from his shoulders. “Thank you for the assistance.”
Mila blushed. “Thank you, milord.”
“Elijah,” he corrected softly, wanting to hear her say his name one last time.
“Elijah,” she dutifully repeated, her lips curling into a smile before picking up the pails and continuing down the path.
“Who was that?” Niklaus drawled, lustily watching Mila as she walked away.
“Your sister,” Elijah brusquely replied, tugging his horse free.
Niklaus spoke of his meeting with Dmitri the entire ride home, and Elijah could hear the hope in his voice. Their father - correction, Elijah’s father - had never treated Niklaus any way but poorly, and it was obvious Niklaus wanted Dmitri to be the father he had so longed to have. Elijah hoped his brother would not be disappointed.
“I am returning to meet the rest of the family in a fortnight,” Niklaus declared as Elijah’s home rose in the distance. “You will come, won’t you, brother?”
Thinking of Mila, he nodded.
As Niklaus rode hard towards the house, a shout of excitement slipping from his lips, Alexandra cantered up beside Elijah and observed, “You are smitten with the girl.”
“Alexandra - “
“She is pretty,” Alexandra allowed, “but she is young, Eli, barely six-and-ten I’d wager. And she is Klaus’s sister. If you do anything to besmirch her honor - “
“I would never do such a thing, and I’m hurt you would believe I would.”
“I have seen men do far worse for far less attractive women.” Face softening, Alexandra sighed. “Are you unhappy with Naomi?”
He was not. In the past ten year, Elijah had grown to love Naomi, who loved him deeply in return. It was not a question of happiness.
It was a question of passion, and Mila Petrova had been brimming with it.
“No, I am not unhappy.” With a smirk, he added, “Perhaps you and Klaus’s sickly brother can make a match.”
The name Alexandra called him was hardly appropriate for a lady to know, let alone use.
* * *
When Elijah and Niklaus arrived at Dmitri’s home two weeks later, there was a table erected outside, people crowding in on the benches, more food than their income would allow spread out as a feast. Elijah knew instantly Dmitri was trying to show Niklaus they were not paupers, that they were capable of providing as good of a meal as he would receive at home; Elijah could not help but cynically wonder how long it would take for Niklaus’s new father to ask for money.
Elijah watched as the crowd seemed to swallow Niklaus, greeting him with more enthusiasm than he had ever received at home, and Elijah could not help but feel grateful his brother was finally feeling the love he so desperately wanted. Niklaus needed more love than anyone Elijah had ever met, and the Petrovs seemed to have it in spades.
It was a movement at the edge of the crowd which caught Elijah’s attention. There, in a dark dress, her hair hanging in waves over her shoulders, was Mila, a somber expression on her face which did not match her family and neighbors. Elijah could not help but go to her, wondering what had happened to make her so sad.
He was within arm’s reach of her when he saw the dark, purple bruise around her right eye, blemishing the otherwise perfect olive skin. Elijah’s father had never struck his mother, but he knew what it looked like; he had seen servants arguing, had watched men who as strong as bears knock women to the ground as if they were insects. The idea Mila’s husband struck her filled Elijah with a rage he had never experienced in his life.
“Are you alright?” he asked by way of greeting, fists clenching as he noticed finger shaped bruises on her arm.
Mila momentarily froze before attempting to sidestep the question entirely. “It is a grand celebration, is it not? Why, we share a brother now!”
“Are you alright?” Elijah repeated, his voice softer, nearly swallowed by the noise of the crowd.
Mila sighed, her hands rising to rub at her arms, vainly attempting to keep the cold away. “I am fine, milord.”
Elijah had never taken liberties with a woman. Unlike his brothers, who viewed women as sport, Elijah believed in the rules which governed society; he took the vows he made to Naomi seriously and had never once considered straying from his marriage, even after Darya’s sister-in-law made it well-known she would be open to such advances.
And yet Elijah could not help gently turning Mila’s face so he could look at the bruise, bringing their mouths criminally close, before whispering, “You do not look fine, my love.”
Mila’s eyes welled with tears but before Elijah could do anything, Dmitri began to call for her, urging her into the throng to greet Niklaus. Elijah gritted his teeth in frustration, pouring himself a mug of mead, watching as Niklaus pulled Mila into his body, face alight with laughter.
* * *
Elijah was drunk.
Elijah was, in fact, so drunk they could not travel back home, a fact Niklaus found so thoroughly amusing he nearly laughed himself sick even as he helped Elijah into the bed Dmitri offered them. As Niklaus teasingly lectured him on his wild habits, Elijah thought of Mila, the sadness in her eyes, and how desperately he wanted to make it go away.
As the sun started to rise over the horizon, Elijah forced himself out of bed, Niklaus snoring beside him, and stumbled out into the morning, breathing deep. His stomach protested quick movement, and Elijah found himself on his knees, the food he consumed the day before now decorating the grass.
With a groan, he heaved himself to his feet, following the path towards the well, desperately needing water to clean his mouth.
He was still seated beside the well, his head resting against the stone, when he heard footsteps approaching. Lifting his head, hoping it was not an animal, Elijah could not help but smile as Mila came into view, empty pails in her hands.
“Good morning.”
Mila jumped in the air, the pails falling to the ground. “Oh, Elijah, you scared me!”
“I am sorry.”
“What are you doing here so early?” she asked as she gathered the pails.
“I was thirsty.” Climbing to his feet, he admitted, “I was a bit in my cups.”
“I am familiar with the signs,” she snapped, approaching the lip of the well.
“Was your husband in his cups when he hit you?” Elijah found himself asking, startled by his own brazenness.
Mila recoiled, spinning to face him, her lower lip trembling. “I do not know you, sir, and I certainly do not know you well enough to discuss my marriage. I ask you to please - “
“No one should ever hit you,” Elijah interrupted softly, struggling to keep his voice even. “I would never hit you.”
“Then I suppose it is bad luck you are not my husband,” she rasped, tears spilling onto her cheeks.
Elijah kissed her then, sweetly and tenderly as the sun rose above them.
* * *
“There are rumors,” Alexandra began months later as she and Elijah walked the grounds of their parents’ estate.
“What did Niklaus do this time?”
“They are not about Niklaus; they are about you.”
“Me?”
“There are rumors,” Alexandra continued, “that you are keeping a mistress, which in itself would not be particularly scandalous; Joshua and Mikael each have two. What has the potential to bring scandal is they say this girl has a child which has quickened in her stomach, a child which is not her husband’s.”
Elijah struggled not to think of the gentle roundness of Mila’s stomach beneath her gown, of the excitement in his chest when he felt the movement beneath her skin. “I did not think you one to listen to idle gossip, Lex.”
“Is it gossip? Naomi tells me you’ve been away recently on business.”
“You’ve spoken to Naomi about this?!” he snapped, legitimately angry at his sister for the first time in recent memory.
Alexandra jerked away, unlinking their arms with surprising violence. “How could you do this, Elijah? How could you be so utterly careless?”
“This is none of your concern.”
“You have done to that Petrova girl what our mother did to our father! If you need to conduct an affair, you do so discreetly and take measures to make sure you do not have a child from it! Honestly, Elijah, what were you thinking?!”
“I love her!” Elijah declared, throwing his arms up in frustration. “Mila…She is not some girl I bedded for the pleasure of it. I love her, Alexandra, and I want to be with her.”
“And what about Naomi and your boys? What about Klaus?”
“To hell with Klaus! I am so god-awful sick of thinking about Klaus!”
Alexandra froze, eyes widening in disbelief. Finally she gasped, “Who are you? Niklaus worships you, and when he finds out how you have dishonored his sister, it will kill him. If her husband finds out, there is a very real chance he will kill you. The Petrovs are not like us, Elijah; you have heard the stories.”
“What, of the men turning into wolves by the light of the full moon? You do not believe that.”
“I believe there are forces at play here we shouldn’t taunt because you have found a woman who spreads so easily.”
Elijah clutched Alexandra’s shoulders, shouting, “You do not speak of her that way!”
She broke the hold easily, pushing Elijah back as she had when they were children. “And you do not forget your allegiance is to this family first! This girl, this Mila, does not belong to you, and you are risking everything you have built by pretending that she does.” Smoothing her skirts, she sighed, “Sometimes I believe you are even dumber than Klaus when it comes to matters of the world.”
And then Alexandra walked away, leaving Elijah with her words.
* * *
“We could run away,” Elijah suggested as he and Mila lied entangled in her bed, his fingers combing through her dark curls.
Elijah had only glimpsed Mila’s husband a few times; he was always away for work, refusing to use the land Dmitri had given them as a wedding present. It was a lonely existence for Mila but it provided them with a warm bed to use. Elijah had gotten used to slipping unseen into the house, playing at domesticity with his love.
“Where would we run?” Mila asked, her tone encouraging as she drew circles on his chest.
“Far away, across oceans if we need to; we will go wherever we are able to live as we want to live.”
“And what will we do when we get there?”
“We shall have two dozen children with your eyes and live the happiest existence ever to have been lived.”
Mila chuckled, kissing the patch of skin before her. “But what of my daughter and your sons? Shall we take them with us?”
“If you wish it.”
Mila sat up, tossing a leg over his hips, straddling him with a smile. “You would give me anything I ask,” she stated, awe in her voice.
“Of course,” Elijah replied instantly, tracing a path down her shoulder, over her breasts, and stopping at the firm bulge of her stomach. “You are my love.”
“And you are mine,” Mila vowed, leaning down to kiss him.
They were mid-kiss when the door burst open, startling them apart, Mila’s daughter screaming in the other room. Elijah barely had time to focus on the men entering the house before a fist slammed into his jaw and hands jerked Mila away, dragging her naked out the door. He screamed her name as another punch landed in his stomach, and Elijah knew this was the end.
A blow to his head disoriented him. By the time he was aware of his surroundings, all Elijah could see was a ring of fire. It took a moment to realize Mila was inside the circle, bound to a post, and Elijah began to fight against the hands that held him, desperate to get to the woman he loved, ready to die beside her.
The full moon was high in the sky, and Elijah heard the snarling before he saw the wolf being lead into the circle by Mila’s husband, an opalescent stone in his hand. Elijah cried out as his shoulder was wrenched from place as he was pulled inside and shouted again as her husband sliced open his arm, gathering the blood on the stone.
He cut the wolf, its blood joining Elijah’s on the stone, and Elijah crawled to Mila, nude and sobbing, her wrists rubbed raw from trying to free herself.
“Run, my love,” she ordered through her tears. “He will kill us all.”
Elijah screamed as the knife pierced Mila’s heart, a scream which only increased as the worst pain Elijah ever felt shot through his body as Mila’s husband chanted words in a language Elijah did not know. He twisted on the ground, crying out for a salvation that did not come, and, when the fires went out, Elijah prayed he was dead.
Instead, Mila’s husband grabbed him by his injured arm and growled into his face, “You’re damned now. And when you see her face again, you’ll be damned all over again.”
Elijah lost consciousness.
When he awoke, the moon still hung high and the people were gone, but Mila’s still body remained beside him. Elijah gathered her against him, an all-consuming despair filling him, and, as he wept, he began to notice the smell.
It was the richest, most wondrous scent he had ever encountered, and it took Elijah several moments to realize it was the blood coating his hands. Unable to resist, his tongue flicked out to gather it, cleaning himself, and Elijah felt a sharp pain in his jaw as fangs descended. Panicking, he pulled away from Mila and got to his feet, instinct shouting at him to find Niklaus.
He did not need his horse; he could suddenly run faster than any animal, and, by the time Elijah reached his home, daylight was starting to creep over the horizon. As he threw open the door, Elijah found himself unable to cross the threshold, pushing against an invisible barrier. He called for Naomi, who, worried at the sight he presented, immediately ordered him inside.
It was not until the sun’s first beams came through the windows Elijah learned the sunlight burned him.
“What is going on?” Naomi cried as he huddled beneath a cloak in the root cellar.
Elijah could not answer. Instead, he waited for night fall and went to find Niklaus as quickly as he could.
Niklaus, Alexandra, and the rest of his siblings were on the lawn when he arrived, all with faces as hideous as his own, fangs in all of their mouths.
“What has happened to us?” Leah wept against Mikael’s shoulder, her body quaking with the effort to remain upright.
And so Elijah told the story of what transpired only a day earlier, of what Mila’s husband had done to them. By the time he was finished, Elijah saw the resolution in his brothers’ eyes, a resolution made all the more clear when Joshua announced his plan for vengeance.
“We do not kill the Petrovs,” Niklaus warned. “We may need them.”
Only Alexandra remained behind, her fangs receding as she glared at Elijah.
“This is all my fault.”
“Yes,” Alexandra agreed, her voice hateful, “it mostly certainly is.”
“Lex - “
“Stop. I have nothing more to say to you, Elijah, in this life or the innumerable lives we shall live because of this curse. I warned you of the consequences, and now our entire family is damned. Your girl is dead. We are dead.”
“Alexandra - “
“This will be the last time you ever see me,” she vowed, gathering her hair into a single, long braid. “And if for some reason you find me in the future, do not speak to me. Do not call me by name. Do not act as if I am anything to you other than a stranger. As of this moment, I am not your sister, you are not my brother, and I am not a member of this family.”
Tears burned in Elijah’s eyes. “Please, no, Lexi - “
Alexandra recoiled from his pet name for her as if it was the most poisonous of snakes. “I am nothing to you, Elijah, and you are nothing to me ever again.”
And then she was gone too.
* * *
Niklaus returned before dawn with two rings, his clothing positively saturated with blood. He slipped the silver and lapis lazuli onto Elijah’s finger and declared, “Now we can walk in the daylight again.”
Elijah listened numbly as Niklaus explained what had happened on his father’s land, on the savagery his siblings had committed. Niklaus described in graphic detail what happened to Mila’s husband, how he had extracted information about the curse from him, how he forced him to make the rings before killing him.
“I buried Mila,” Niklaus assured him, a kind smile on his face, “and I took her daughter to my father to raise.”
“Thank you.”
Niklaus nodded. “We are brothers. It is only right.”
“You do not hate me?”
Niklaus leaned forward, a calculating grin on his face. “Her useless husband told me, because I am of this bloodline and of the Petrovs, if the curse is broken, I will be able to sire an entirely new race upon this earth. We will make them pay ten thousand times over for what they have done to Mila, to us.”
“But we will have to kill a girl who looks exactly like Mila to do it,” Elijah reminded him, spinning his daylight ring on his finger.
Niklaus shrugged. “But she will not be Mila, so what does it matter?” Getting to his feet, Niklaus picked up the remaining ring and asked, “Where did Lexi go? I want to give her hers.”
“She left,” Elijah reported numbly.
Niklaus paused, genuine pain on his face, before it disappeared as quickly as a candle going out. “Well, then, she’s going to miss all the fun.”
* * *
As the flames rose around the sacrifices, Elijah saw Elena, bound between Jenna and Jules, tears staining her face as she struggled, Klaus laughing at her ineffectual movements. Elijah caught sight of Greta and Bonnie, the magic crackling against his skin, and Elijah was suddenly frozen as the single worst moment of his life played out again.
He wasn’t sure when he made his move, but Elijah was suddenly in the circle, surprise on Klaus’s face.
“I heard you were dead, brother,” he drawled, amusement in his voice. “Who woke you up?”
Elijah held tightly to the dagger Alaric and Elena had planted in his chest, the one which would do nothing against his brother. “Does it matter?”
Klaus smirked, acting as if there was not a battle raging around them. “Ah…I should have known. You always did have a weakness for the women of my bloodline.” He reached down, jerking Elena to her feet, a scream garbled in her throat.
“Do you love this one, too, brother? They’ve all been so different; is it the face you love? Do you look at her and pretend to see my sister? Do you call her Mila in your dreams?” Klaus laughed, low and cruel. “Maybe I’ll have a crack at this one, too. After all, Katerina was so delightful. And girls today…Well, I’m sure Elena here has a wealth of information to share with me.”
Elena whimpered, lashing out with her leg, her kick doing nothing as Klaus shook her like a rag doll.
“I will kill you,” Elijah swore, allowing the monster to fill his face.
“Alone? You could never do anything by yourself, Eli.”
Elijah started as a blade appeared in Klaus’s chest, a roar exploding from him as he threw Elena to the ground.
“He’s not alone, asshole,” Alexandra growled, twisting the knife as she kicked Klaus in the center of his back.
Elijah had not seen his sister in a thousand years, but Alexandra looked exactly as she had the night she walked away from the family. Her hair was still plaited down her back, her eyes still glowed with rage, and she still bore a striking resemblance to Klaus. In her dark jeans and tank top, Alexandra could have passed for any other young woman, and, when she spoke, there was not a trace of an accent to her voice.
He heard Elena breathe her name, shock in her voice, but Elijah did not have time to question how Elena knew Alexandra, not when Alexandra was screaming, “Stefan, get here out of here!” as Klaus tackled the sister he once loved so desperately to the ground.
Elijah moved quickly, reaching through Greta’s chest before the witch had a moment to split focus from her fight with Bonnie and wrenching her heart free from her body. As the witch dropped, Elijah looked to Bonnie and ordered, “Kill him now.”
Klaus had Alexandra pinned to the ground, screaming at her in their native tongue, the rage and betrayal in his voice so sharp Elijah could hear the man he had once been, felt the compulsion to appease his baby brother. Elijah wondered if it would always be there, if even after Klaus was long gone, he would feel his brother like a phantom pain.
“It doesn’t have to be this way!” Alexandra shouted as she flipped them, grunting as Klaus planted the knife in her shoulder.
Before Klaus says anything, Elijah knew it was a lie. It was always going to end this way; the die had been cast long ago by the decisions Elijah had made with Mila Petrova and this was the only one it could finish.
The explosion of light Bonnie channeled was blinding, blowing all of them backwards. When Elijah was able to get to his feet, Klaus lied on the ground beside Alexandra, perfectly still. Elijah suddenly had the strongest memory of watching Niklaus sleep when they were children; he had nearly died of fever, and Elijah snuck into his chamber to make sure he was still breathing. When Niklaus woke up, he had smiled and said his name as if Elijah was hero.
The flames died, the full moon providing the only light in the clearing. Elijah dimly heard the voices of the others, but all he could see was Alexandra, who closed Klaus’s eyes before taking his hand in her own. The prayer she whispered over his body was the same their mother taught them, the one asking God to protect them.
Elijah had stopped believing in God centuries ago, but he hoped there was some sort of peace awaiting his brother.
“Niklaus,” Alexandra moaned, tears on her face, her original accent heavy.
Elijah knelt beside the body, carefully pulling Alexandra back. She turned, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck, her tears warm against Elijah’s throat. And despite the hatred he had felt for 500 years, Elijah allowed himself to cry as well.
Mila’s husband had taken away their humanity.
Nothing would ever take away their bond.
* * *
They buried Klaus beneath a tree near Willow Creek at a spot Alexandra picked. Stefan offered to help them dig the grave out of loyalty to Alexandra, but they politely refused, digging into the earth themselves. They didn’t speak as they did it; they were past words now. As they covered Klaus’s body with dirt, Alexandra finally said, “I forgave you a long time ago, you know.”
“I suppose I should say thank you.”
She shook her head, wiping at the dirt and sweat on her brow. “No, it was wrong of me to blame you. You were in love, and there was no way you could’ve known what he’d do to us, what we’d become. I blamed you for centuries; I thought Klaus became what he did because of you.”
“What changed?”
“It started to eat me alive, make it impossible to feel anything but hatred. I didn’t want to live forever feeling that way. And now…It was a different life, Eli. We were different.”
“Yes, we were,” he agreed.
“She loves Stefan,” Alexandra said after a beat.
“Yes.”
“But you love her anyway.”
“Yes.”
Alexandra sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. “Maybe we aren’t so different than we used to be after all.”
* * *
From the moment he saw Katerina 500 years earlier, Elijah came to terms with the fact there would be another woman with the face of his dead lover. He could look at Katerina and not feel a whisper of memory about Mila; even at her most vulnerable, Katerina was too knowledgeable to ever be mistaken for the first Petrova woman he had known. And in the beginning, he had felt that way about Elena as well; she was the perfect replica of Mila but there was nothing about the way she acted which was similar.
But Elijah had known without a doubt, the second she returned to him that day at the Lockwood Mansion, that he loved her.
In the aftermath of the sacrifice, calm descended over Mystic Falls. Elijah watched as his sister and Stefan Salvatore romped through the woods around the house, their laughter echoing amongst the trees; he witnessed Jenna struggling to come to terms with her newfound vampirism; he smelled the scent of the werewolf all over Caroline’s body. And Elijah knew then there was no place for him there any longer.
He found Elena in the cemetery; she sat crosslegged at her parents’ grave, her journal opened on her lap. She smiled at his approach, marking her place as she closed the journal.
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you. Jeremy mentioned you come here sometimes to write.”
“Is something wrong?” When Elijah looked at her blankly, she clarified, “Because you’re looking for me.”
Elijah chuckled. “No, I was coming to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye? You’re leaving?”
“Mystic Falls isn’t my home. I came here to make sure Klaus was no longer a threat, and we accomplished that. I see no reason to remain.”
Elena got to her feet, setting her journal atop her parents’ headstone. “But Lexi’s staying here for awhile. You don’t want - “
“I will have forever to spend time with Lexi. I feel my time is up here.”
They were quiet for a beat before Elena asked, “Do you regret killing Klaus?”
“No,” Elijah instantly answered.
And then, just as he had done hundreds of years earlier, Elijah acted impulsively, brushing Elena’s hair back from her face, tucking a lock behind her ear. She shivered under the touch, and Elijah wished with everything inside of him it was not from fear.
“He would have killed you, and, if he didn’t, you would have been as broken as Katerina. I would kill him a thousand times before I ever let that happen.”
Elena smiled softly before confessing, “I think I’m going to miss you.”
It had been a very long time since anyone had missed Elijah.
“Should you ever need anything, you should not hesitate to call me.”
“You’d come?”
“I would.”
Awe filled Elena’s face as she marveled, “You really mean that.”
“Of course.”
Elijah was surprised when she sprung forward to wrap her arms around him, hugging him tightly against her. He allowed himself to revel in the feel of her body against his, taking in the sweet scent of her perfume and the warm tang of her blood. It would have been easy to kiss her in that moment, to see how she would react.
But Elena was not Mila, and Elijah knew her well enough to know if she wanted to be kissed, she would kiss him herself.
She only brushed her lips against his cheek and sighed, “Thank you.”
As Elijah left Mystic Falls, he prayed with everything he had that Elena Gilbert was the last Petrova doppelganger.
His heart could not bear to love another.