Fic: Pack Codes and Tribal Laws (1/2)
Title: Pack Codes and Tribal Laws
Author: lit_chick08
Pairings: Klaus/Lexi, Klaus/Rebekah, Klaus/Rebekah/Stefan, Rebekah/Stefan, Elijah/Elena
Warning: incest, hints of dubcon/noncon
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Goes AU after 3x03 “The End of the Affair”
Word Count: 13,432
Disclaimer: These characters belong to LJ Smith, Kevin Williamson, and Julie Plec
Summary: No matter what happens, no matter who they become, brothers and sisters are forever. No one knows this better than Elijah, Lexi, Klaus, and Rebekah
A/N: A pseudo prequel/sequel to Ain't Misbehavin' but you don't necessarily need to read that to understand this
He was the first, the eldest son; Elijah took his responsibility as the bearer of his family's legacy quite seriously, even as a child. Before the others came, he remembered his father holding up as they stood upon one of the balconies, his father waving to the lands sprawling in every direction, and telling him how one day everything would belong to Elijah.
Elijah, the first of five sons, the protector of two daughters, the boy whose name meant “My god is the lord.”
The irony of being named after a prophet and damned to be a monster is not lost on him.
* * *
She was the fifth, the eldest daughter; Alexandra did not particularly enjoy having four older brothers but she certainly enjoyed being the only girl. Unlike the others, she was not graced with time alone in the nursery, not with another brother following eleven months after her birth, but it did not matter because she adored her baby brother with every ounce of her being, loved him more than she loved the four boys who came before her.
Alexandra, the first of two daughters, the envy of four brothers, the girl whose name meant “defender of men.”
The irony of being named as a protector when she could end a life with the wave of her hand is not lost on her.
* * *
He was the sixth, the final son; Niklaus knew from the beginning his presence was not as appreciated by his father as his brothers' but his mother always favored him. While Elijah and the others did everything they could to earn Father's favor, Niklaus was content to remain in the nursery with Alexandra, to run through the gardens with his sister and eschew all sense of responsibility their father tried to beat into him.
Niklaus, the last of six sons, the frustration of four brothers, the boy whose name meant “victory of the people.”
The irony of being named after the success of a race he seeks to destroy is not lost on him.
* * *
She was the seventh, the second daughter; Rebekah did not enjoy being the youngest, being the smallest and the weakest. Her four oldest brothers were too old for her to truly enjoy, Alexandra and Niklaus never acknowledged her, and Rebekah longed for the days when she would be old enough to enjoy life, to have a life.
Rebekah, the last of two daughters, the forgotten child, the girl whose name meant “to tie.”
The irony of being named after the action which has cursed her is not lost on her.
* * *
When Elijah got married, Rebekah was five-years-old. As he gathered his things which would be moved to the home he would be sharing with his new wife, Elijah caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Standing in his doorway was Rebekah, her tiny face folded in consternation.
“I thought we agreed you were not to enter my rooms,” he teased, smiling so she would understand he was not chastising her.
“I am outside your rooms,” she corrected, playing with the fabric of her skirts.
Elijah felt his smile turn into a grin at his sister's attitude. “Yes, I suppose you are. Well, come in. You know how Mother hates for you to linger.”
Rebekah immediately complied, heaving her body up onto his mattress. When he reached to help her, she smacked at his hands, declaring, “I can do it! I am not a baby!” and Elijah felt his heart flutter in sadness as he realized the statement was correct.
After situating herself on his blankets, Rebekah stated matter-of-factly, “I do not want you to get married.”
“Why? Do you not care for Naomi?”
“No, I like Naomi, but I do not want you to move away. No one is as kind to me as you are, and who will help me when Nik hits me?”
“I shall have Joshua promise to stop Niklaus from being unkind.”
“Joshua is stupid and does not like me.”
“Joshua is your brother and he loves you,” Elijah argued, tapping her nose with his finger.
“Not the way you love me.” Rising up on her knees, her big blue eyes trapping him effortlessly, Rebekah plead, “Will you take me with you? I shall be very good and I will not bother you.”
“Bex...”
“Please, Eli, please!”
“You would miss Mother far too much,” he pointed out reasonably, “and there would be no other children for you to play with at my home. It will be fine, Rebekah, I swear it.”
Folding her arms across her chest, tears swimming in her eyes, his cherubic faced sister spat, “I hate you! I hate you and I shall never forgive you!”
Elijah caught her easily as she tried to leap from the bed; as she squirmed to escape from his grasp, he stated emphatically, “And that breaks my heart, my dear, because I love you more than there are stars in the sky, and I shall miss you most of all.”
Fat tears rolling down her cheeks, Rebekah sniffled pathetically. “Really?”
“Really and truly. You, Rebekah, are my most favorite sister, and I am deeply sad that I will not be able to see your smiling face every day.”
It was not a lie; Rebekah absolutely was his favorite sister, his favorite sibling. There was a purity and a lightness to her the rest of them lacked.
When Elijah thinks of her now, he tries to remember the little girl rather than the woman she became.
* * *
When Alexandra fully understood what it meant for Niklaus to not be their father's son, she was fourteen. She was being fitted for her wedding gown when the sound of shattering glass and heavy furniture being knocked to the ground reached her. Despite her mother ordering her to remain on the seamstress's pedestal, Alexandra ran towards the commotion, pins in her skirt, her underclothing and stays on display. When she reached the parlor, Niklaus was on the ground, bruised and bleeding, their father pounding upon him with heavy fists, and Alexandra did not hesitate to throw her body atop Niklaus's, catching the tail end of a blow which made her back explode in pain.
Her cry had the simultaneous effect of making her father back away and Niklaus attempt to rear up beneath her to attack, but Alexandra kept her weight upon him, wrapping her arms so tightly around his torso, there was nowhere for him to go. Niklaus was already larger than she was, but he was weakened, every visible inch of his skin blemished by their father's rage.
“Alexandra, get away from him,” her father ordered, his breathing ragged from exertion.
She shook her head, glaring hatefully at both of her parents. “If you want him, you will have to go through me.”
Alexandra does not kid herself into believing she was remotely intimidating, but there must have been something in her voice which made her father understand how serious she was. There were few absolutes in the world, but Alexandra knew her father would never intentionally strike her; it was not his way, not with her, not with any of them except Niklaus.
“Get that mongrel out of my sight,” her father finally ordered, literally throwing up his hands. “I am done with him.”
When her father finally left the room, Alexandra slid off of Niklaus, tears welling in her eyes as she saw the blood on his face. As she attempted to help him to his feet, their mother came up behind her, bending to help as well; Alexandra reacted purely on instinct, slapping her hand away, glaring with more fury than she had ever felt in her life.
“You let him treat Nik this way,” Alexandra growled as Esther recoiled. “You are no better than him!”
It took her twice as long to get Niklaus to his chambers without her mother's assistance, but Alexandra did not care about that, did not care about the smudges of dirt and blood on her new skirt, did not care about anything but making sure Niklaus was safe. She ordered a servant to draw him a bath, helped him out of his soiled clothing despite the fact they are both too old for that now; Niklaus winced as she attended to his cuts and Alexandra shushed him, blowing streams of air onto the wounds to take the sting away.
He cried out in pain as he slid into the hot water, and Alexandra felt her heart clench in empathy; Nik's pain had always been her own and vice versa. As she wet a cloth, carefully trying to rinse the pain of the day away, Niklaus leaned his head against the side of the tub, one hand clumsily catching the material of her skirt.
“I ruined your dress.”
Stroking curls back from his forehead, she shook her head, waving her hand dismissively. “It is for the better. It is a horrid gown. I would rather marry nude than in the monstrosity Mother is commissioning.”
“I would rather you not marry.”
“I would prefer that as well, but we both know that is not an option.” Stroking the bruised skin of his cheekbone with her thumb, Alexandra confessed, “I have never slept without you in the next room. I fear I will never rest once I am away.”
“We could run,” he suggested, hissing sharply as the rag slid across the already blackening skin over his ribs. “We could steal horses from the stables and ride until we are in a new country. We can be Nik and Lex, adventurers.”
Alexandra smiled sadly, a stray tear rolling down her cheek. “Just like when we were children.”
As the water began to cool, Niklaus struggled to his feet, bracing himself against the sides of the tub while Alexandra wrapped his body in a sheet. She had just secured the cloth around him when Niklaus suddenly grasped her hands, startling her.
“He will kill me once you are gone. You cannot leave me, Lex, you cannot.”
“He won't,” Alexandra swore.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because he knows I would kill him first.” Holding Niklaus's face in her hands, she stated, “As long as I have breath in my chest, no one will ever hurt you.”
When Alexandra thinks of him now, she tries to remember the scared boy in need of her protection rather than the man who promised to destroy her.
* * *
The day Alexandra got married, Niklaus had just turned fourteen. As soon as the ceremony was over, the moment everyone sat down for dinner, he grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out into the frozen gardens, the biting winter winds cutting him to the quick. He settled in on a bench, chugging from the bottle to warm himself, letting his tears freeze on his face.
Niklaus wasn't sure how long he sat in the gardens before Elijah found him; all he knew was one moment he was watching his breath escape towards the sky and the next Elijah was there, his face folded in irritation.
“What are you doing? You'll catch your death out here, especially without a cloak.”
“I could not be so lucky,” Niklaus spat, draining the jug of the last of its wine before throwing it as far as his frozen muscles would allow.
“Niklaus, what - “
“Leave me be, Elijah! What I do is none of your concern!”
Exhaling as he sat down beside his younger brother, Elijah declared, “As long as our blood matches, whatever you do will be my concern.”
Niklaus scoffed. “We both know our blood does not match, that I am not Michael's son.”
“Having different fathers does not mean we are not still brothers. It does not mean I cannot see what pain you are in at having to say goodbye to Alexandra.”
Niklaus wiped at his face, his anger rising in his chest. “She does not even love him.”
“She will learn to.”
Whirling on Elijah, murder in his heart, he growled, “And that is what you want for our sisters, to be traded away like cattle to further our father's wealth?”
“It is the way the world works, Niklaus.”
Getting to his feet, his balance unsteady from the alcohol, he vowed, “I will burn the world before I ever play by those rules.”
Rising, steadying Niklaus with a hand on his shoulder, Elijah pronounced, “If you find a way to change the rules, I will help you start the fire.”
When Niklaus thinks of him now, he tries to remember the brother who promised to help him obliterate the status quo rather than the man who attempted to rip his heart from his chest.
* * *
When the curse was laid upon them, Rebekah was seventeen. She had no idea what was transpiring mere miles from her house; no, the night her humanity was stripped away, Rebekah was fast asleep. Sometimes she wondered how she would have spent her last day if she had known she would never be human again; she had never realized how valuable humanity was until it was taken away.
Rebekah awoke to crippling pain, unable to draw a full breath, an unseen force dragging her towards the door. As she gasped and twisted, grabbing furniture to try to anchor herself, Rebekah saw her parents fighting the same losing battle as herself. It was not until her bare feet touched the cool grass Rebekah was able to breathe, gratefully gasping in all of the oxygen she could.
“Rebekah,” she heard her mother gasp, laying a hand upon her shoulder. Rebekah looked up and immediately screamed as she saw her mother's monstrous face, a face which matched her father's; Rebekah's hands flew immediately to her own face, and she could feel the differences, hissed sharply as she knicked her fingers upon the fangs now in her mouth.
“Mama, what's happening?” she cried, suddenly feeling so much younger than she was.
It was the overwhelming scent of fire which drew her attention; as she looked out towards the road, she could glimpse smoke rising in the distance, could almost feel the heat licking at her skin. For the rest of her life, Rebekah would not know why she did what she did; all she could think was That's Charlotte's house and then she was running.
She flew over the landscape, her parents' shouts in her ears, rocks and sticks tearing the tender flesh of her feet. As she reached the clearing where the Petrova farm sat, Rebekah's eyes burned at the brightness of the three burning fires; she could smell a strange mixture of herbs beneath the scent of the burning wood, and, as she scanned the area, she saw Charlotte, bound to a stake inside a ring of fire, a knife buried deeply in her stomach. The scent of the blood forced Rebekah's face to change, and rage she had never felt before filled her body; Rebekah heard someone shout out a warning as to her arrival, but she was already moving, already tearing open bodies as she fought to reach Charlotte.
She leapt over the flames, landing in front of Charlotte, shredding the ropes which held her in place, jerking the blade from her gut; an almost overpowering urge to lower her mouth to the wound nearly crippled Rebekah, but she fought through it, trying to rouse Charlotte.
“I'm so sorry,” Charlotte whispered as Rebekah clasped her hand.
“Do not speak. I will get you to Isaac; he will know how to heal - “
Charlotte coughed, blood trickling from her lips. With a shaky hand, she tugged at the necklace around her throat, pressing it into Rebekah's palm. “My daughter...She will need that. Promise...you will keep it safe.”
“I promise,” Rebekah assured her through her tears.
And then Charlotte was gone, and all she could think of was Niklaus and what these people might have done with her brother. As she got to her feet, an arrow hit her squarely in the shoulder, making her scream in pain, and Rebekah wondered if she was going to die alongside her sister-in-law beneath the light of the full moon.
She heard the screams, the cracking of bones, and then there was Alexandra, face bloodied, her fists coated in gore. Rebekah felt the warmth of the fluid on her skin as Alexandra grabbed her and pulled, forcing her to run. They did not stop until they were at the edge of the river where Alexandra carefully broke off the tip of the arrow, slipping the wood from her body.
“What is happening?” Rebekah asked pathetically as Alexandra cupped her hands to gather water to cleanse the wound.
“I do not know,” Alexandra admitted, “but we have to look after each other now.”
When she thinks about her now, Rebekah tries to remember the sister who made her feel so safe on the water's edge rather than the woman who left her to bear the brunt of their brother's anger.
* * *
The night their father ordered all of them to pick a side, to decide whether they supported Niklaus's quest for the doppelganger or a life of peace with him, Elijah felt his heart break. Unlike Niklaus, Elijah loved his father; he respected him, had tried so hard to make him proud, done whatever it took to emulate him. As Niklaus glared at the man who raised them, Elijah saw the panic in his mother's eyes, in his siblings' eyes; none of them wanted this.
The moment Michael said choose, Alexandra went to Niklaus's side, no hesitation in her movement. Elijah saw his mother flinch as their father intoned, “If you go with him, Alexandra, you cannot come back.”
“I understand,” Alexandra replied, and there was such certainty in her voice, Elijah wondered, not for the first time, if she was the strongest of all of them.
Niklaus looked so young as he silently implored them to stand alongside them, to disobey their father for the first time in their unnaturally long lives and support his quest to avenge Charlotte, to become something which could make the witches pay. And Elijah knew his anger and hatred would drive Niklaus to do terrible things, to make unsafe choices and drag Alexandra into wars he would start with little cause. He was their big brother; it was his job to protect them.
Elijah tried not to show his grief as he walked to Niklaus's side, suppressing a wince at the way his mother gasped his name. Michael looked as if someone had hit him upside the head, so obviously shocked and horrified, and Elijah wanted to apologize, to explain why he was walking away from the life he wanted to live in order to support a cause he didn't believe in at all.
The absolute gratitude on Niklaus's face made it worse.
“Do you understand what you are doing, Elijah?” Michael asked, his tone rigid.
“I do,” Elijah confirmed, trying to silently communicate the reasons behind his choices, begging his father to forgive him for this.
When Rebekah suddenly ran to him, slipping her hand into his, Elijah wanted to send her back, to order her to stay with their mother and their brothers, the people who had spent their lives doing everything they could to protect her. From the moment they were cursed, everyone tried to make it better for Bex, to help her come to terms with being permanently stuck on the cusp of womanhood, to help her forget the sight of Charlotte bleeding to death; though he never explicitly stated it, Elijah knew Niklaus blamed Rebekah for not reaching Charlotte sooner, for not preventing what Niklaus had been too far away to stop.
Swearing her allegiance to Niklaus was the same as tying herself to a lifetime of misery, but Elijah knew Rebekah had always looked to him to keep her safe.
They ran until they reached a different continent, until they were as far from their family as they could possibly get without a ship. As Niklaus and Alexandra hunted, Elijah watched Rebekah wander around the house whose owner they had compelled to invite them inside before killing. He saw the tremor in her hands as she touched the trappings of a human life Niklaus easily snuffed out.
“What have we done?” Rebekah whispered as her finger traced the opening of a vase.
“Bex...”
She turned to face him, her eyes wide with fear, the moonlight washing out her face of any warmth; Elijah could not remember her ever looking so young.
“Father is going to kill us if Niklaus doesn't do it first - “
Elijah hurried across the room, pressing his fingers against her mouth. Keeping his voice incredibly low, he ordered, “You can never say that again, do you understand me? If Nik ever hears you...”
“I'm scared,” she confessed, tears filling her eyes.
Cradling her face in his palms, Elijah swore, “As long as I live, I will protect you. You have my word.”
When Elijah thinks about all the people he has failed and all the promises he has broken, it is the one he made to Rebekah on that cool spring night which haunts him.
* * *
The night everything changed with Niklaus, all Alexandra had been trying to do was make him smile. They were in Romania, a century after leaving their family, and Niklaus grew darker with every passing year. Alexandra saw it building inside of him, the rage, the hatred, the frustration; she worried constantly Niklaus was going to do something to end his life, and, despite what Elijah and Rebekah thought, his melancholy was not abating.
His sadness was always the worst on nights like tonight, when the swollen moon seemed to mock him. It was why Elijah and Rebekah always found something to do, some place to go, leaving her to handle Niklaus and his mercurial moods. She suggested they walk near the edge of the forest to simply get out of the house, but Niklaus did not seem to be lightening at all.
As they lied on a hill, staring up into the black sky, Niklaus confessed, “It is so difficult to breathe on these nights.”
“Why?”
“I feel it in me, the wolf. It is inside me, screaming to be released, and I know there is no way it can be, and I hate it. You do not understand what it feels like, Lex. It is...It is torture.”
“Explain it,” she requested softly. When Niklaus simply stared at her, she added, “Please.”
Sitting up, obviously struggling to find the right words, he finally settled on, “It is like my body is on fire, as if everything inside of me wants to explode and it is only my skin keeping me together. Every instinct inside of me is screaming to run through the woods, to feel the elements against me, and I cannot, and it devastates me, Lex. I need to transform; it is in my blood.”
When she got to her feet, Niklaus looked at her in confusion which quickly became disbelief as she quickly shed her clothing, shaking out her hair until it fell like a curtain around her nude body.
“What are you - “
“I am being a wolf,” she announced as she began to walk backwards towards the treeline. “You best hurry, Nik. You do not want me to be a better one than you.”
The moment she heard Niklaus's rushing footsteps, Alexandra took off, running through the woods as fast as she could, rushing up trees and leaping back to the forest floor. When she felt someone pounce upon her back, Alexandra moved quickly, flinging Niklaus to the ground with a giggle before rushing off again. Once upon a time they had played a similar game with their older brothers, rushing around the grounds of their family's estate, and, just as she had always been able to, Alexandra could sense Niklaus before he was actually there.
Supernatural or not, monsters or not, Alexandra always felt as if Niklaus was simply an extension of herself.
She caught him near the edge of a pond, tackling him to the ground from above, slamming his body face first into the dew-coated grass; Niklaus grunted, attempting to shake her off, but Alexandra held fast, playfully digging blunt teeth into his shoulder, her tongue tasting the salt of his skin.
“Admit I am better,” she ordered, digging her teeth more firmly into his flesh when he stubbornly shook his head. “Admit I am better or I shall tell everyone how I bested you.”
“I will not!” Niklaus laughed, sounding very much as he had when he was human. “You were simply lucky.”
“Lucky?” Digging her knee into the small of his back, tugging his ear with her teeth, Alexandra pronounced, “No matter what you say, we both know I am older and that means stronger, and you could not beat me on your very best day.”
Flopping onto her back, Alexandra chuckled as Niklaus rolled onto his side, rubbing the sting left behind by her teeth. With his blond curls tumbling across his forehead, the flush of the hunt still high on his dirt-smudged cheeks, Niklaus looked so unbelievably human, it was almost enough for Alexandra to fool herself into believing the past 300 years hadn't happened.
He reached over, plucking a piece of leaf from her hair. “Thank you for this.”
“Just because we're monsters doesn't mean we can't have fun, Nik.”
The press of Nik's mouth against hers did not startle Alexandra; they had always been affectionate, Alexandra especially. But the brush of his tongue across her lower lip made Alexandra jerk back, inhaling sharply as she shook her head.
“Nik...”
“We're monsters, Lexi,” he reminded her, his lips featherlight as they slid down her throat. “Let's be monstrous.”
Of the multitude of sins Alexandra committed over the past three centuries, she wasn't sure if having sex with Niklaus was the worst or the least, but, as she pulled away again, the look of utter devastation on her brother's face answered the question for her.
She never wanted to contribute to Niklaus's sadness, and it was not as if she didn't want him.
Decision made, Alexandra surged forward, brutally capturing his mouth as she pushed him onto his back; she had been damned for three centuries and would continue to be so for dozens more, and the bond she shared with Niklaus was deeper than any other in her unnaturally long life.
His grip was bruising as he tried to align their hips, and Alexandra forced his hands away, pinning him to the ground. Niklaus reared up, flipping their positions even as he caught her lower lip between his teeth, moaning as his dick slid against her wetness, prompting Alexandra to cant her hips in a request for friction. He growled at her movement, trying to keep her in place so he could enter her, but Alexandra did not want to be taken, did not want a rough coupling with Niklaus overpowering her.
“God damn it, Lexi!” he spat as she reversed their positions suddenly, and Niklaus gasped as she slapped his face, squeezing his cheeks to force him to look at her.
“I am not some human whore, so stop treating me like one.” Releasing his face, her voice softening, she kissed him gently on the mouth before brushing her lips against his reddened cheek. “If you cannot play nice, I do not want to play.”
Chastened, he lifted his hand, his thumb tracing her full bottom lip, lifting his torso so he could reach her. This kiss lacked the desperation and neediness of the others; this was almost...romantic, and Alexandra could not help the roll of instinctual disgust her body gave at thinking such a thing. She slipped her tongue into Nik's mouth, whimpering as he sat up fully, palming her breast carefully, thumb strumming her nipple. His other hand slid down her stomach, gently sifting through her curls, his fingers sliding against her slick flesh. Alexandra gasped as he pushed two fingers into her body, Nik smiling against the line of her jaw.
“Is that better?” he murmured, sliding his fingers into her hair, drawing her down for another kiss. His voice sobering, he implored, “Swear you will not hate me for this, Lexi. I could not bear - “
“There is nothing you could ever do to make me hate you,” she quickly assured him, swiveling her hips to follow the rhythm of his fingers.
When Alexandra thinks of all the things she has been wrong about and all the promises she made through her unnaturally long life, it is the one she made to Niklaus on that cool autumn night which haunts her.
* * *
The night everything changed with Elijah, all Niklaus wanted was to make his brother happy. He did not mean to start a war with his brother; even in the aftermath of Katerina's defection, cursing him to another 500 years trapped between two worlds, Niklaus did not truly blame Elijah. There was no one - no one - more loyal than his big brother, and he believed with everything he was that Elijah played no part in Katerina's escape. Elijah had loved Charlotte's doppelganger, and, while it certainly enraged the part of him which could look at Katerina and see his dead wife, he had not truly faulted Elijah for it. It was actually comforting to know there was something so shamefully human still alive in Elijah.
They were in Spain when their brother Isaac came across them. It would have been a happy coincidence for any other family; they were at a celebration being held by the royal family, Rebekah and Alexandra in their finest gowns, he and Elijah using their very best charm upon some of the prettier ladies, when he heard Rebekah sigh Isaac's name. They all turned to see Isaac standing there, surprise on his familiar face; he had the same dark hair and eyes as Elijah, though a neatly kept beard now covered his face. As a child, Niklaus always took comfort in Isaac's presence; whereas Elijah always behaved as if he was another father, Joshua acted as if he had something to prove, and Seth simply ignored them all, Isaac was infinitely patient with a biting sense of humor. Before the curse, he was a doctor; he had once set Niklaus's broken arm after falling from a tree, lying to their father as to how the injury occurred to keep Niklaus from trouble.
Isaac's refusal to stand with him cut far deeper than his other brothers' denials; he expected more of Isaac.
He felt himself recoil as Rebekah forgot herself, flinging her arms around Isaac, crushing him to her; he saw Alexandra's eyes flit towards him to gauge his reaction, but Elijah remained stoic, perfectly still.
He hated how he could never read Elijah.
They excused themselves, and Niklaus felt bitterness rising so sharply, he could taste it. Lexi slipped her hand into his, squeezing it in support, and, for a moment, the feeling abated; for as long as he could remember, Lexi had the uncanny ability to calm him. But the sight of Rebekah fawning over Isaac, asking a litany of questions about Joshua, Seth, and their mother, reminding him of everyone who chose to pick Michael over him, could not drown the feelings inside of him.
“Mother misses all of you,” Isaac stated, his eyes locking with Niklaus's. “It is her fondest wish to have us all reunited.”
“And we all know that isn't possible,” Niklaus countered.
“We heard about the doppelganger, about what happened. There will be no more Petrovas thanks to you and Rebekah. This silly feud - “
“It is not silly,” Alexandra interrupted, still her little brother's voice, “and it was not we who forced this separation. We will still find a way to break the curse, to restore what those damned witches stole from Nik.”
Isaac sighed before looking to Niklaus imploringly. “I miss you, brother. All of us...Even Father misses you. It does not need to be this way, not anymore.”
“Choices were made, Isaac,” Elijah intoned, surprising Niklaus with the depth of his solemnity. “It was not Niklaus who forced us to choose sides, and, if Father wants back, he can come himself. Sending you as a messenger, it is beneath you and it is certainly beneath us.”
Irritation flickered across Isaac's face. “You are not royalty, Eli.”
“No but we will also not be called back to court as peasants.” Elijah exhaled sharply before declaring, “I must take my leave. Isaac, it was good to see you.”
When Niklaus found Elijah hour later, his brother was seated in the den drinking directly from a bottle of wine. It was such an unusual sight, Niklaus was genuinely surprised as he joined him.
“Where are our sisters?”
He shrugged. “One of the princesses was seeking companionship. She invited both of them to remain at court for the night. If I had known you were going to drink yourself towards oblivion, I would have come sooner.”
Elijah took a long swig from the bottle before declaring, “I cannot believe he would do this.”
“Who, Isaac? I admit, his arrival is not something I embrace but - “
“No, Michael,” Elijah corrected, face darkening. “How dare he send Isaac to bring us home like errant children when he sent us away? How dare he act as if we behaved irrationally when he cast you out and expected us to turn our backs?”
Niklaus could not help but feel a rush of warmth at Elijah's indignation to their father's treatment of him. “We do not have to go back.”
“Of course we will not go back, but I cannot believe Isaac would do this. I always thought when Michael sent someone, it would be Seth or maybe Joshua. I never thought Isaac would stand against us this way.”
“It bothers you that badly?”
Elijah lifted his gaze, and Niklaus saw just how wrecked his brother appeared. “When we were children, Isaac and I were as close as you and Alexandra. There was no one in the world who knew me better. The man who came to us today...I did not know him and he did not know me.” A single tear tracking down his face, Elijah declared, “My brother has become a stranger, and I am just as strange to him. This is not the eternity I want.”
He was not the hero of the story; that was not his role to fill. But Niklaus had never seen Elijah so disheartened and he just wanted to make it better.
It wasn't difficult to kill Isaac. His sweet, peace-loving brother never saw the dagger, never had any indication it was to be his last night on earth. By the time Isaac connected the pain in his chest to what was happening, his skin was already ashen, his body already crumpling. The last word Isaac ever said was Niklaus's name, and Niklaus winced at the hand which attempted to grasp his shirt front.
“I am sorry, brother,” he whispered as he gently laid Isaac on the ground. “You should have chosen better.”
A little compulsion of the servants allowed Niklaus to transport Isaac's body to a freshly made coffin to be stored away. When he returned to his home with the bracelet Isaac's daughter made him over 500 years earlier, Elijah instantly knew what had happened.
“There is no way our brother would ever have been parted with that,” Elijah stated, horror dawning on his face. “Isaac would die before he ever let anyone take Leah's bracelet from his wrist.”
“Elijah - “
“What have you done, Niklaus? What did you do to our brother?”
“What had to be done.” Extending the bracelet towards Elijah, Niklaus offered, “I made sure he would never hurt you again, would never hurt any of us again.”
“What did you do?!” Elijah roared, grasping Niklaus by the collar and slamming against the wall so hard, the entire building seemed to shake.
He shoved at Elijah, forcing him away. “I sent a message to our father!”
Elijah shook his head in disbelief, his face a plethora of every emotion Niklaus recognized. “Where is his body? Where did you put him?”
“Buried him at sea,” Niklaus lied, rejection singing his heart. “Perhaps if you hold your breath long enough and the tides are in your favor, you may find a scrap of his clothing.”
“You're a monster.”
Steeling his resolve, Niklaus warned, “Careful, Elijah. I have other daggers.”
“How could you? Isaac...Father will come now. He will come with the forces of Heaven and Hell to punish you, to punish us. Isaac did not deserve to die!” Pointing at his brother, Elijah pronounced, “You will regret this.”
“I have already forgotten it.”
Of all the lies Niklaus has told over the centuries, of all the falsehoods he convinced himself to be true, it is the one he told Elijah that balmy summer night which haunts him.
* * *
The night Rebekah knew she could no longer depend on Alexandra, all she had wanted was to borrow a gown. Niklaus still insisted upon selecting Rebekah's gowns as if she was a child, but Alexandra was given free reign to bring home anything she wanted; every whim Lex had was fulfilled, and Rebekah refused to go to a dinner party in the frilly pink number Niklaus brought home a few days earlier.
As Rebekah entered Alexandra's room, she froze at the sight of her sister carefully packing her few important possessions into a bag. Rebekah felt her blood turn to ice in her veins as Lex turned around, her dark eyes - Elijah's eyes, their mother's eyes - fixing her in place.
“He will kill you,” Rebekah finally said, her voice hoarse with fear.
Alexandra shook her head, her long ringlets falling across her cheekbones. “He will not.”
“He killed our brothers. He killed Mother. And if he ever gets the chance, he will kill Elijah and Father. What makes you believe you are so special, he will not plant a dagger in your heart just as easily?”
“Because I could never kill him.”
“In case you haven't been paying attention, Lex, Nik isn't playing by the same rules as the rest of us.” Tears filling her eyes, Rebekah stepped closer, dropping the volume of her voice despite the fact Niklaus was miles away in town. “I cannot watch another member of our family be daggered. I cannot.”
“Then come with me.”
“What?”
“You do not like the lives we are living anymore than I do. We can both go, flee, and start lives of our own. We can be anyone we choose to be, Bex. It's our choice.”
Rebekah dreamt of a time when she was not ruled by Niklaus's capricious moods, when she could go where she wanted with who she wanted without ever having to ask permission. It was the only thing in the world she truly wanted, and Lex knew that. But Bex didn't know her sister felt the same way. Alexandra had always been Niklaus's favorite, even when they were human, and hers was the only loyalty Nik believed in absolutely.
“You cannot do this,” Rebekah finally declared. “He will kill you, Lexi, and he will kill me for knowing about it.”
“You overestimate our brother's unkindness.”
“And you underestimate his hatred.” Folding her arms across her chest, Rebekah pointed out, “Half of our family is dead by Nik's hand, including our mother. He nearly killed Elijah when he left, and we both know the moment the opportunity presents itself, Eli will be in a box beside our other brothers. Do you honestly want to tempt his rage?”
“If the alternative to dying, is living in our gilded cage, then, yes, Bex, I would rather have a dagger in my chest.” Wiping at an errant tear, Alexandra stressed, “You do not understand what it is like for me, what I have to be. If I continue to bear this responsibility, I will be crushed beneath it.”
Suddenly furious, Rebekah growled, “What right do you have to feel trapped? He gives you everything! You are the only person in the world Niklaus loves!”
“But he is not the only person I love, and I will not be party to more deaths in search of a cause I no longer believe in.” Tears streaking her cheeks now, she confessed, “I cannot sleep without seeing our brothers' faces, without hearing our mother's voice. I just want to go back.”
“Back?” Rebekah echoed. “There is no back, Alexandra! It's been 800 years!”
“And in another 800, perhaps my opinions will change but not tonight.” Definitively, Alexandra proclaimed, “I will be free of our brother tomorrow morning or I will die trying, but blind subservience is no longer an option for me.”
“And what becomes of me?” Rebekah asked in a small voice.
Alexandra move forward, cupping Rebekah's face in her hands. “Come with me, Bex. He will be the death of you.”
“I am not his favorite, Lexi. He will kill me.” Pulling away, she shook her head. “If you go, you go alone. I am not ending up in a box for a plan which will not work anyway.”
“You are making a mistake.”
Rebekah scoffed. “No, I made a mistake in thinking you or Elijah were worth any of the promises you ever made me. I may be in a gilded cage, Alexandra, but you, you are going to be more trapped by your defection than you ever were by his side.” Glaring at her sister, she spat, “You think I am so stupid, but I know you far better than you believe I do. And I know with every fiber of my being, you do not know how to live without Nik. You can go ten thousand kilometers, go to the very ends of the earth, but he will never leave your mind because, while he is not the only person you love, he has always been the only person you love more than everyone else.” Grabbing the emerald gown she had originally entered the room to borrow, Rebekah declared, “I do not know why you are even bothering to run. You and Niklaus, you are the same terrible monsters; at least he is honest about it.”
Of all the last words Rebekah said through the centuries, all the parting shots designed to sting the recipient, it is the unkind accusation she hurled at Alexandra which haunts her.
KEEP READING
Author: lit_chick08
Pairings: Klaus/Lexi, Klaus/Rebekah, Klaus/Rebekah/Stefan, Rebekah/Stefan, Elijah/Elena
Warning: incest, hints of dubcon/noncon
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Goes AU after 3x03 “The End of the Affair”
Word Count: 13,432
Disclaimer: These characters belong to LJ Smith, Kevin Williamson, and Julie Plec
Summary: No matter what happens, no matter who they become, brothers and sisters are forever. No one knows this better than Elijah, Lexi, Klaus, and Rebekah
A/N: A pseudo prequel/sequel to Ain't Misbehavin' but you don't necessarily need to read that to understand this
He was the first, the eldest son; Elijah took his responsibility as the bearer of his family's legacy quite seriously, even as a child. Before the others came, he remembered his father holding up as they stood upon one of the balconies, his father waving to the lands sprawling in every direction, and telling him how one day everything would belong to Elijah.
Elijah, the first of five sons, the protector of two daughters, the boy whose name meant “My god is the lord.”
The irony of being named after a prophet and damned to be a monster is not lost on him.
* * *
She was the fifth, the eldest daughter; Alexandra did not particularly enjoy having four older brothers but she certainly enjoyed being the only girl. Unlike the others, she was not graced with time alone in the nursery, not with another brother following eleven months after her birth, but it did not matter because she adored her baby brother with every ounce of her being, loved him more than she loved the four boys who came before her.
Alexandra, the first of two daughters, the envy of four brothers, the girl whose name meant “defender of men.”
The irony of being named as a protector when she could end a life with the wave of her hand is not lost on her.
* * *
He was the sixth, the final son; Niklaus knew from the beginning his presence was not as appreciated by his father as his brothers' but his mother always favored him. While Elijah and the others did everything they could to earn Father's favor, Niklaus was content to remain in the nursery with Alexandra, to run through the gardens with his sister and eschew all sense of responsibility their father tried to beat into him.
Niklaus, the last of six sons, the frustration of four brothers, the boy whose name meant “victory of the people.”
The irony of being named after the success of a race he seeks to destroy is not lost on him.
* * *
She was the seventh, the second daughter; Rebekah did not enjoy being the youngest, being the smallest and the weakest. Her four oldest brothers were too old for her to truly enjoy, Alexandra and Niklaus never acknowledged her, and Rebekah longed for the days when she would be old enough to enjoy life, to have a life.
Rebekah, the last of two daughters, the forgotten child, the girl whose name meant “to tie.”
The irony of being named after the action which has cursed her is not lost on her.
* * *
When Elijah got married, Rebekah was five-years-old. As he gathered his things which would be moved to the home he would be sharing with his new wife, Elijah caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Standing in his doorway was Rebekah, her tiny face folded in consternation.
“I thought we agreed you were not to enter my rooms,” he teased, smiling so she would understand he was not chastising her.
“I am outside your rooms,” she corrected, playing with the fabric of her skirts.
Elijah felt his smile turn into a grin at his sister's attitude. “Yes, I suppose you are. Well, come in. You know how Mother hates for you to linger.”
Rebekah immediately complied, heaving her body up onto his mattress. When he reached to help her, she smacked at his hands, declaring, “I can do it! I am not a baby!” and Elijah felt his heart flutter in sadness as he realized the statement was correct.
After situating herself on his blankets, Rebekah stated matter-of-factly, “I do not want you to get married.”
“Why? Do you not care for Naomi?”
“No, I like Naomi, but I do not want you to move away. No one is as kind to me as you are, and who will help me when Nik hits me?”
“I shall have Joshua promise to stop Niklaus from being unkind.”
“Joshua is stupid and does not like me.”
“Joshua is your brother and he loves you,” Elijah argued, tapping her nose with his finger.
“Not the way you love me.” Rising up on her knees, her big blue eyes trapping him effortlessly, Rebekah plead, “Will you take me with you? I shall be very good and I will not bother you.”
“Bex...”
“Please, Eli, please!”
“You would miss Mother far too much,” he pointed out reasonably, “and there would be no other children for you to play with at my home. It will be fine, Rebekah, I swear it.”
Folding her arms across her chest, tears swimming in her eyes, his cherubic faced sister spat, “I hate you! I hate you and I shall never forgive you!”
Elijah caught her easily as she tried to leap from the bed; as she squirmed to escape from his grasp, he stated emphatically, “And that breaks my heart, my dear, because I love you more than there are stars in the sky, and I shall miss you most of all.”
Fat tears rolling down her cheeks, Rebekah sniffled pathetically. “Really?”
“Really and truly. You, Rebekah, are my most favorite sister, and I am deeply sad that I will not be able to see your smiling face every day.”
It was not a lie; Rebekah absolutely was his favorite sister, his favorite sibling. There was a purity and a lightness to her the rest of them lacked.
When Elijah thinks of her now, he tries to remember the little girl rather than the woman she became.
* * *
When Alexandra fully understood what it meant for Niklaus to not be their father's son, she was fourteen. She was being fitted for her wedding gown when the sound of shattering glass and heavy furniture being knocked to the ground reached her. Despite her mother ordering her to remain on the seamstress's pedestal, Alexandra ran towards the commotion, pins in her skirt, her underclothing and stays on display. When she reached the parlor, Niklaus was on the ground, bruised and bleeding, their father pounding upon him with heavy fists, and Alexandra did not hesitate to throw her body atop Niklaus's, catching the tail end of a blow which made her back explode in pain.
Her cry had the simultaneous effect of making her father back away and Niklaus attempt to rear up beneath her to attack, but Alexandra kept her weight upon him, wrapping her arms so tightly around his torso, there was nowhere for him to go. Niklaus was already larger than she was, but he was weakened, every visible inch of his skin blemished by their father's rage.
“Alexandra, get away from him,” her father ordered, his breathing ragged from exertion.
She shook her head, glaring hatefully at both of her parents. “If you want him, you will have to go through me.”
Alexandra does not kid herself into believing she was remotely intimidating, but there must have been something in her voice which made her father understand how serious she was. There were few absolutes in the world, but Alexandra knew her father would never intentionally strike her; it was not his way, not with her, not with any of them except Niklaus.
“Get that mongrel out of my sight,” her father finally ordered, literally throwing up his hands. “I am done with him.”
When her father finally left the room, Alexandra slid off of Niklaus, tears welling in her eyes as she saw the blood on his face. As she attempted to help him to his feet, their mother came up behind her, bending to help as well; Alexandra reacted purely on instinct, slapping her hand away, glaring with more fury than she had ever felt in her life.
“You let him treat Nik this way,” Alexandra growled as Esther recoiled. “You are no better than him!”
It took her twice as long to get Niklaus to his chambers without her mother's assistance, but Alexandra did not care about that, did not care about the smudges of dirt and blood on her new skirt, did not care about anything but making sure Niklaus was safe. She ordered a servant to draw him a bath, helped him out of his soiled clothing despite the fact they are both too old for that now; Niklaus winced as she attended to his cuts and Alexandra shushed him, blowing streams of air onto the wounds to take the sting away.
He cried out in pain as he slid into the hot water, and Alexandra felt her heart clench in empathy; Nik's pain had always been her own and vice versa. As she wet a cloth, carefully trying to rinse the pain of the day away, Niklaus leaned his head against the side of the tub, one hand clumsily catching the material of her skirt.
“I ruined your dress.”
Stroking curls back from his forehead, she shook her head, waving her hand dismissively. “It is for the better. It is a horrid gown. I would rather marry nude than in the monstrosity Mother is commissioning.”
“I would rather you not marry.”
“I would prefer that as well, but we both know that is not an option.” Stroking the bruised skin of his cheekbone with her thumb, Alexandra confessed, “I have never slept without you in the next room. I fear I will never rest once I am away.”
“We could run,” he suggested, hissing sharply as the rag slid across the already blackening skin over his ribs. “We could steal horses from the stables and ride until we are in a new country. We can be Nik and Lex, adventurers.”
Alexandra smiled sadly, a stray tear rolling down her cheek. “Just like when we were children.”
As the water began to cool, Niklaus struggled to his feet, bracing himself against the sides of the tub while Alexandra wrapped his body in a sheet. She had just secured the cloth around him when Niklaus suddenly grasped her hands, startling her.
“He will kill me once you are gone. You cannot leave me, Lex, you cannot.”
“He won't,” Alexandra swore.
“And how do you know that?”
“Because he knows I would kill him first.” Holding Niklaus's face in her hands, she stated, “As long as I have breath in my chest, no one will ever hurt you.”
When Alexandra thinks of him now, she tries to remember the scared boy in need of her protection rather than the man who promised to destroy her.
* * *
The day Alexandra got married, Niklaus had just turned fourteen. As soon as the ceremony was over, the moment everyone sat down for dinner, he grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out into the frozen gardens, the biting winter winds cutting him to the quick. He settled in on a bench, chugging from the bottle to warm himself, letting his tears freeze on his face.
Niklaus wasn't sure how long he sat in the gardens before Elijah found him; all he knew was one moment he was watching his breath escape towards the sky and the next Elijah was there, his face folded in irritation.
“What are you doing? You'll catch your death out here, especially without a cloak.”
“I could not be so lucky,” Niklaus spat, draining the jug of the last of its wine before throwing it as far as his frozen muscles would allow.
“Niklaus, what - “
“Leave me be, Elijah! What I do is none of your concern!”
Exhaling as he sat down beside his younger brother, Elijah declared, “As long as our blood matches, whatever you do will be my concern.”
Niklaus scoffed. “We both know our blood does not match, that I am not Michael's son.”
“Having different fathers does not mean we are not still brothers. It does not mean I cannot see what pain you are in at having to say goodbye to Alexandra.”
Niklaus wiped at his face, his anger rising in his chest. “She does not even love him.”
“She will learn to.”
Whirling on Elijah, murder in his heart, he growled, “And that is what you want for our sisters, to be traded away like cattle to further our father's wealth?”
“It is the way the world works, Niklaus.”
Getting to his feet, his balance unsteady from the alcohol, he vowed, “I will burn the world before I ever play by those rules.”
Rising, steadying Niklaus with a hand on his shoulder, Elijah pronounced, “If you find a way to change the rules, I will help you start the fire.”
When Niklaus thinks of him now, he tries to remember the brother who promised to help him obliterate the status quo rather than the man who attempted to rip his heart from his chest.
* * *
When the curse was laid upon them, Rebekah was seventeen. She had no idea what was transpiring mere miles from her house; no, the night her humanity was stripped away, Rebekah was fast asleep. Sometimes she wondered how she would have spent her last day if she had known she would never be human again; she had never realized how valuable humanity was until it was taken away.
Rebekah awoke to crippling pain, unable to draw a full breath, an unseen force dragging her towards the door. As she gasped and twisted, grabbing furniture to try to anchor herself, Rebekah saw her parents fighting the same losing battle as herself. It was not until her bare feet touched the cool grass Rebekah was able to breathe, gratefully gasping in all of the oxygen she could.
“Rebekah,” she heard her mother gasp, laying a hand upon her shoulder. Rebekah looked up and immediately screamed as she saw her mother's monstrous face, a face which matched her father's; Rebekah's hands flew immediately to her own face, and she could feel the differences, hissed sharply as she knicked her fingers upon the fangs now in her mouth.
“Mama, what's happening?” she cried, suddenly feeling so much younger than she was.
It was the overwhelming scent of fire which drew her attention; as she looked out towards the road, she could glimpse smoke rising in the distance, could almost feel the heat licking at her skin. For the rest of her life, Rebekah would not know why she did what she did; all she could think was That's Charlotte's house and then she was running.
She flew over the landscape, her parents' shouts in her ears, rocks and sticks tearing the tender flesh of her feet. As she reached the clearing where the Petrova farm sat, Rebekah's eyes burned at the brightness of the three burning fires; she could smell a strange mixture of herbs beneath the scent of the burning wood, and, as she scanned the area, she saw Charlotte, bound to a stake inside a ring of fire, a knife buried deeply in her stomach. The scent of the blood forced Rebekah's face to change, and rage she had never felt before filled her body; Rebekah heard someone shout out a warning as to her arrival, but she was already moving, already tearing open bodies as she fought to reach Charlotte.
She leapt over the flames, landing in front of Charlotte, shredding the ropes which held her in place, jerking the blade from her gut; an almost overpowering urge to lower her mouth to the wound nearly crippled Rebekah, but she fought through it, trying to rouse Charlotte.
“I'm so sorry,” Charlotte whispered as Rebekah clasped her hand.
“Do not speak. I will get you to Isaac; he will know how to heal - “
Charlotte coughed, blood trickling from her lips. With a shaky hand, she tugged at the necklace around her throat, pressing it into Rebekah's palm. “My daughter...She will need that. Promise...you will keep it safe.”
“I promise,” Rebekah assured her through her tears.
And then Charlotte was gone, and all she could think of was Niklaus and what these people might have done with her brother. As she got to her feet, an arrow hit her squarely in the shoulder, making her scream in pain, and Rebekah wondered if she was going to die alongside her sister-in-law beneath the light of the full moon.
She heard the screams, the cracking of bones, and then there was Alexandra, face bloodied, her fists coated in gore. Rebekah felt the warmth of the fluid on her skin as Alexandra grabbed her and pulled, forcing her to run. They did not stop until they were at the edge of the river where Alexandra carefully broke off the tip of the arrow, slipping the wood from her body.
“What is happening?” Rebekah asked pathetically as Alexandra cupped her hands to gather water to cleanse the wound.
“I do not know,” Alexandra admitted, “but we have to look after each other now.”
When she thinks about her now, Rebekah tries to remember the sister who made her feel so safe on the water's edge rather than the woman who left her to bear the brunt of their brother's anger.
* * *
The night their father ordered all of them to pick a side, to decide whether they supported Niklaus's quest for the doppelganger or a life of peace with him, Elijah felt his heart break. Unlike Niklaus, Elijah loved his father; he respected him, had tried so hard to make him proud, done whatever it took to emulate him. As Niklaus glared at the man who raised them, Elijah saw the panic in his mother's eyes, in his siblings' eyes; none of them wanted this.
The moment Michael said choose, Alexandra went to Niklaus's side, no hesitation in her movement. Elijah saw his mother flinch as their father intoned, “If you go with him, Alexandra, you cannot come back.”
“I understand,” Alexandra replied, and there was such certainty in her voice, Elijah wondered, not for the first time, if she was the strongest of all of them.
Niklaus looked so young as he silently implored them to stand alongside them, to disobey their father for the first time in their unnaturally long lives and support his quest to avenge Charlotte, to become something which could make the witches pay. And Elijah knew his anger and hatred would drive Niklaus to do terrible things, to make unsafe choices and drag Alexandra into wars he would start with little cause. He was their big brother; it was his job to protect them.
Elijah tried not to show his grief as he walked to Niklaus's side, suppressing a wince at the way his mother gasped his name. Michael looked as if someone had hit him upside the head, so obviously shocked and horrified, and Elijah wanted to apologize, to explain why he was walking away from the life he wanted to live in order to support a cause he didn't believe in at all.
The absolute gratitude on Niklaus's face made it worse.
“Do you understand what you are doing, Elijah?” Michael asked, his tone rigid.
“I do,” Elijah confirmed, trying to silently communicate the reasons behind his choices, begging his father to forgive him for this.
When Rebekah suddenly ran to him, slipping her hand into his, Elijah wanted to send her back, to order her to stay with their mother and their brothers, the people who had spent their lives doing everything they could to protect her. From the moment they were cursed, everyone tried to make it better for Bex, to help her come to terms with being permanently stuck on the cusp of womanhood, to help her forget the sight of Charlotte bleeding to death; though he never explicitly stated it, Elijah knew Niklaus blamed Rebekah for not reaching Charlotte sooner, for not preventing what Niklaus had been too far away to stop.
Swearing her allegiance to Niklaus was the same as tying herself to a lifetime of misery, but Elijah knew Rebekah had always looked to him to keep her safe.
They ran until they reached a different continent, until they were as far from their family as they could possibly get without a ship. As Niklaus and Alexandra hunted, Elijah watched Rebekah wander around the house whose owner they had compelled to invite them inside before killing. He saw the tremor in her hands as she touched the trappings of a human life Niklaus easily snuffed out.
“What have we done?” Rebekah whispered as her finger traced the opening of a vase.
“Bex...”
She turned to face him, her eyes wide with fear, the moonlight washing out her face of any warmth; Elijah could not remember her ever looking so young.
“Father is going to kill us if Niklaus doesn't do it first - “
Elijah hurried across the room, pressing his fingers against her mouth. Keeping his voice incredibly low, he ordered, “You can never say that again, do you understand me? If Nik ever hears you...”
“I'm scared,” she confessed, tears filling her eyes.
Cradling her face in his palms, Elijah swore, “As long as I live, I will protect you. You have my word.”
When Elijah thinks about all the people he has failed and all the promises he has broken, it is the one he made to Rebekah on that cool spring night which haunts him.
* * *
The night everything changed with Niklaus, all Alexandra had been trying to do was make him smile. They were in Romania, a century after leaving their family, and Niklaus grew darker with every passing year. Alexandra saw it building inside of him, the rage, the hatred, the frustration; she worried constantly Niklaus was going to do something to end his life, and, despite what Elijah and Rebekah thought, his melancholy was not abating.
His sadness was always the worst on nights like tonight, when the swollen moon seemed to mock him. It was why Elijah and Rebekah always found something to do, some place to go, leaving her to handle Niklaus and his mercurial moods. She suggested they walk near the edge of the forest to simply get out of the house, but Niklaus did not seem to be lightening at all.
As they lied on a hill, staring up into the black sky, Niklaus confessed, “It is so difficult to breathe on these nights.”
“Why?”
“I feel it in me, the wolf. It is inside me, screaming to be released, and I know there is no way it can be, and I hate it. You do not understand what it feels like, Lex. It is...It is torture.”
“Explain it,” she requested softly. When Niklaus simply stared at her, she added, “Please.”
Sitting up, obviously struggling to find the right words, he finally settled on, “It is like my body is on fire, as if everything inside of me wants to explode and it is only my skin keeping me together. Every instinct inside of me is screaming to run through the woods, to feel the elements against me, and I cannot, and it devastates me, Lex. I need to transform; it is in my blood.”
When she got to her feet, Niklaus looked at her in confusion which quickly became disbelief as she quickly shed her clothing, shaking out her hair until it fell like a curtain around her nude body.
“What are you - “
“I am being a wolf,” she announced as she began to walk backwards towards the treeline. “You best hurry, Nik. You do not want me to be a better one than you.”
The moment she heard Niklaus's rushing footsteps, Alexandra took off, running through the woods as fast as she could, rushing up trees and leaping back to the forest floor. When she felt someone pounce upon her back, Alexandra moved quickly, flinging Niklaus to the ground with a giggle before rushing off again. Once upon a time they had played a similar game with their older brothers, rushing around the grounds of their family's estate, and, just as she had always been able to, Alexandra could sense Niklaus before he was actually there.
Supernatural or not, monsters or not, Alexandra always felt as if Niklaus was simply an extension of herself.
She caught him near the edge of a pond, tackling him to the ground from above, slamming his body face first into the dew-coated grass; Niklaus grunted, attempting to shake her off, but Alexandra held fast, playfully digging blunt teeth into his shoulder, her tongue tasting the salt of his skin.
“Admit I am better,” she ordered, digging her teeth more firmly into his flesh when he stubbornly shook his head. “Admit I am better or I shall tell everyone how I bested you.”
“I will not!” Niklaus laughed, sounding very much as he had when he was human. “You were simply lucky.”
“Lucky?” Digging her knee into the small of his back, tugging his ear with her teeth, Alexandra pronounced, “No matter what you say, we both know I am older and that means stronger, and you could not beat me on your very best day.”
Flopping onto her back, Alexandra chuckled as Niklaus rolled onto his side, rubbing the sting left behind by her teeth. With his blond curls tumbling across his forehead, the flush of the hunt still high on his dirt-smudged cheeks, Niklaus looked so unbelievably human, it was almost enough for Alexandra to fool herself into believing the past 300 years hadn't happened.
He reached over, plucking a piece of leaf from her hair. “Thank you for this.”
“Just because we're monsters doesn't mean we can't have fun, Nik.”
The press of Nik's mouth against hers did not startle Alexandra; they had always been affectionate, Alexandra especially. But the brush of his tongue across her lower lip made Alexandra jerk back, inhaling sharply as she shook her head.
“Nik...”
“We're monsters, Lexi,” he reminded her, his lips featherlight as they slid down her throat. “Let's be monstrous.”
Of the multitude of sins Alexandra committed over the past three centuries, she wasn't sure if having sex with Niklaus was the worst or the least, but, as she pulled away again, the look of utter devastation on her brother's face answered the question for her.
She never wanted to contribute to Niklaus's sadness, and it was not as if she didn't want him.
Decision made, Alexandra surged forward, brutally capturing his mouth as she pushed him onto his back; she had been damned for three centuries and would continue to be so for dozens more, and the bond she shared with Niklaus was deeper than any other in her unnaturally long life.
His grip was bruising as he tried to align their hips, and Alexandra forced his hands away, pinning him to the ground. Niklaus reared up, flipping their positions even as he caught her lower lip between his teeth, moaning as his dick slid against her wetness, prompting Alexandra to cant her hips in a request for friction. He growled at her movement, trying to keep her in place so he could enter her, but Alexandra did not want to be taken, did not want a rough coupling with Niklaus overpowering her.
“God damn it, Lexi!” he spat as she reversed their positions suddenly, and Niklaus gasped as she slapped his face, squeezing his cheeks to force him to look at her.
“I am not some human whore, so stop treating me like one.” Releasing his face, her voice softening, she kissed him gently on the mouth before brushing her lips against his reddened cheek. “If you cannot play nice, I do not want to play.”
Chastened, he lifted his hand, his thumb tracing her full bottom lip, lifting his torso so he could reach her. This kiss lacked the desperation and neediness of the others; this was almost...romantic, and Alexandra could not help the roll of instinctual disgust her body gave at thinking such a thing. She slipped her tongue into Nik's mouth, whimpering as he sat up fully, palming her breast carefully, thumb strumming her nipple. His other hand slid down her stomach, gently sifting through her curls, his fingers sliding against her slick flesh. Alexandra gasped as he pushed two fingers into her body, Nik smiling against the line of her jaw.
“Is that better?” he murmured, sliding his fingers into her hair, drawing her down for another kiss. His voice sobering, he implored, “Swear you will not hate me for this, Lexi. I could not bear - “
“There is nothing you could ever do to make me hate you,” she quickly assured him, swiveling her hips to follow the rhythm of his fingers.
When Alexandra thinks of all the things she has been wrong about and all the promises she made through her unnaturally long life, it is the one she made to Niklaus on that cool autumn night which haunts her.
* * *
The night everything changed with Elijah, all Niklaus wanted was to make his brother happy. He did not mean to start a war with his brother; even in the aftermath of Katerina's defection, cursing him to another 500 years trapped between two worlds, Niklaus did not truly blame Elijah. There was no one - no one - more loyal than his big brother, and he believed with everything he was that Elijah played no part in Katerina's escape. Elijah had loved Charlotte's doppelganger, and, while it certainly enraged the part of him which could look at Katerina and see his dead wife, he had not truly faulted Elijah for it. It was actually comforting to know there was something so shamefully human still alive in Elijah.
They were in Spain when their brother Isaac came across them. It would have been a happy coincidence for any other family; they were at a celebration being held by the royal family, Rebekah and Alexandra in their finest gowns, he and Elijah using their very best charm upon some of the prettier ladies, when he heard Rebekah sigh Isaac's name. They all turned to see Isaac standing there, surprise on his familiar face; he had the same dark hair and eyes as Elijah, though a neatly kept beard now covered his face. As a child, Niklaus always took comfort in Isaac's presence; whereas Elijah always behaved as if he was another father, Joshua acted as if he had something to prove, and Seth simply ignored them all, Isaac was infinitely patient with a biting sense of humor. Before the curse, he was a doctor; he had once set Niklaus's broken arm after falling from a tree, lying to their father as to how the injury occurred to keep Niklaus from trouble.
Isaac's refusal to stand with him cut far deeper than his other brothers' denials; he expected more of Isaac.
He felt himself recoil as Rebekah forgot herself, flinging her arms around Isaac, crushing him to her; he saw Alexandra's eyes flit towards him to gauge his reaction, but Elijah remained stoic, perfectly still.
He hated how he could never read Elijah.
They excused themselves, and Niklaus felt bitterness rising so sharply, he could taste it. Lexi slipped her hand into his, squeezing it in support, and, for a moment, the feeling abated; for as long as he could remember, Lexi had the uncanny ability to calm him. But the sight of Rebekah fawning over Isaac, asking a litany of questions about Joshua, Seth, and their mother, reminding him of everyone who chose to pick Michael over him, could not drown the feelings inside of him.
“Mother misses all of you,” Isaac stated, his eyes locking with Niklaus's. “It is her fondest wish to have us all reunited.”
“And we all know that isn't possible,” Niklaus countered.
“We heard about the doppelganger, about what happened. There will be no more Petrovas thanks to you and Rebekah. This silly feud - “
“It is not silly,” Alexandra interrupted, still her little brother's voice, “and it was not we who forced this separation. We will still find a way to break the curse, to restore what those damned witches stole from Nik.”
Isaac sighed before looking to Niklaus imploringly. “I miss you, brother. All of us...Even Father misses you. It does not need to be this way, not anymore.”
“Choices were made, Isaac,” Elijah intoned, surprising Niklaus with the depth of his solemnity. “It was not Niklaus who forced us to choose sides, and, if Father wants back, he can come himself. Sending you as a messenger, it is beneath you and it is certainly beneath us.”
Irritation flickered across Isaac's face. “You are not royalty, Eli.”
“No but we will also not be called back to court as peasants.” Elijah exhaled sharply before declaring, “I must take my leave. Isaac, it was good to see you.”
When Niklaus found Elijah hour later, his brother was seated in the den drinking directly from a bottle of wine. It was such an unusual sight, Niklaus was genuinely surprised as he joined him.
“Where are our sisters?”
He shrugged. “One of the princesses was seeking companionship. She invited both of them to remain at court for the night. If I had known you were going to drink yourself towards oblivion, I would have come sooner.”
Elijah took a long swig from the bottle before declaring, “I cannot believe he would do this.”
“Who, Isaac? I admit, his arrival is not something I embrace but - “
“No, Michael,” Elijah corrected, face darkening. “How dare he send Isaac to bring us home like errant children when he sent us away? How dare he act as if we behaved irrationally when he cast you out and expected us to turn our backs?”
Niklaus could not help but feel a rush of warmth at Elijah's indignation to their father's treatment of him. “We do not have to go back.”
“Of course we will not go back, but I cannot believe Isaac would do this. I always thought when Michael sent someone, it would be Seth or maybe Joshua. I never thought Isaac would stand against us this way.”
“It bothers you that badly?”
Elijah lifted his gaze, and Niklaus saw just how wrecked his brother appeared. “When we were children, Isaac and I were as close as you and Alexandra. There was no one in the world who knew me better. The man who came to us today...I did not know him and he did not know me.” A single tear tracking down his face, Elijah declared, “My brother has become a stranger, and I am just as strange to him. This is not the eternity I want.”
He was not the hero of the story; that was not his role to fill. But Niklaus had never seen Elijah so disheartened and he just wanted to make it better.
It wasn't difficult to kill Isaac. His sweet, peace-loving brother never saw the dagger, never had any indication it was to be his last night on earth. By the time Isaac connected the pain in his chest to what was happening, his skin was already ashen, his body already crumpling. The last word Isaac ever said was Niklaus's name, and Niklaus winced at the hand which attempted to grasp his shirt front.
“I am sorry, brother,” he whispered as he gently laid Isaac on the ground. “You should have chosen better.”
A little compulsion of the servants allowed Niklaus to transport Isaac's body to a freshly made coffin to be stored away. When he returned to his home with the bracelet Isaac's daughter made him over 500 years earlier, Elijah instantly knew what had happened.
“There is no way our brother would ever have been parted with that,” Elijah stated, horror dawning on his face. “Isaac would die before he ever let anyone take Leah's bracelet from his wrist.”
“Elijah - “
“What have you done, Niklaus? What did you do to our brother?”
“What had to be done.” Extending the bracelet towards Elijah, Niklaus offered, “I made sure he would never hurt you again, would never hurt any of us again.”
“What did you do?!” Elijah roared, grasping Niklaus by the collar and slamming against the wall so hard, the entire building seemed to shake.
He shoved at Elijah, forcing him away. “I sent a message to our father!”
Elijah shook his head in disbelief, his face a plethora of every emotion Niklaus recognized. “Where is his body? Where did you put him?”
“Buried him at sea,” Niklaus lied, rejection singing his heart. “Perhaps if you hold your breath long enough and the tides are in your favor, you may find a scrap of his clothing.”
“You're a monster.”
Steeling his resolve, Niklaus warned, “Careful, Elijah. I have other daggers.”
“How could you? Isaac...Father will come now. He will come with the forces of Heaven and Hell to punish you, to punish us. Isaac did not deserve to die!” Pointing at his brother, Elijah pronounced, “You will regret this.”
“I have already forgotten it.”
Of all the lies Niklaus has told over the centuries, of all the falsehoods he convinced himself to be true, it is the one he told Elijah that balmy summer night which haunts him.
* * *
The night Rebekah knew she could no longer depend on Alexandra, all she had wanted was to borrow a gown. Niklaus still insisted upon selecting Rebekah's gowns as if she was a child, but Alexandra was given free reign to bring home anything she wanted; every whim Lex had was fulfilled, and Rebekah refused to go to a dinner party in the frilly pink number Niklaus brought home a few days earlier.
As Rebekah entered Alexandra's room, she froze at the sight of her sister carefully packing her few important possessions into a bag. Rebekah felt her blood turn to ice in her veins as Lex turned around, her dark eyes - Elijah's eyes, their mother's eyes - fixing her in place.
“He will kill you,” Rebekah finally said, her voice hoarse with fear.
Alexandra shook her head, her long ringlets falling across her cheekbones. “He will not.”
“He killed our brothers. He killed Mother. And if he ever gets the chance, he will kill Elijah and Father. What makes you believe you are so special, he will not plant a dagger in your heart just as easily?”
“Because I could never kill him.”
“In case you haven't been paying attention, Lex, Nik isn't playing by the same rules as the rest of us.” Tears filling her eyes, Rebekah stepped closer, dropping the volume of her voice despite the fact Niklaus was miles away in town. “I cannot watch another member of our family be daggered. I cannot.”
“Then come with me.”
“What?”
“You do not like the lives we are living anymore than I do. We can both go, flee, and start lives of our own. We can be anyone we choose to be, Bex. It's our choice.”
Rebekah dreamt of a time when she was not ruled by Niklaus's capricious moods, when she could go where she wanted with who she wanted without ever having to ask permission. It was the only thing in the world she truly wanted, and Lex knew that. But Bex didn't know her sister felt the same way. Alexandra had always been Niklaus's favorite, even when they were human, and hers was the only loyalty Nik believed in absolutely.
“You cannot do this,” Rebekah finally declared. “He will kill you, Lexi, and he will kill me for knowing about it.”
“You overestimate our brother's unkindness.”
“And you underestimate his hatred.” Folding her arms across her chest, Rebekah pointed out, “Half of our family is dead by Nik's hand, including our mother. He nearly killed Elijah when he left, and we both know the moment the opportunity presents itself, Eli will be in a box beside our other brothers. Do you honestly want to tempt his rage?”
“If the alternative to dying, is living in our gilded cage, then, yes, Bex, I would rather have a dagger in my chest.” Wiping at an errant tear, Alexandra stressed, “You do not understand what it is like for me, what I have to be. If I continue to bear this responsibility, I will be crushed beneath it.”
Suddenly furious, Rebekah growled, “What right do you have to feel trapped? He gives you everything! You are the only person in the world Niklaus loves!”
“But he is not the only person I love, and I will not be party to more deaths in search of a cause I no longer believe in.” Tears streaking her cheeks now, she confessed, “I cannot sleep without seeing our brothers' faces, without hearing our mother's voice. I just want to go back.”
“Back?” Rebekah echoed. “There is no back, Alexandra! It's been 800 years!”
“And in another 800, perhaps my opinions will change but not tonight.” Definitively, Alexandra proclaimed, “I will be free of our brother tomorrow morning or I will die trying, but blind subservience is no longer an option for me.”
“And what becomes of me?” Rebekah asked in a small voice.
Alexandra move forward, cupping Rebekah's face in her hands. “Come with me, Bex. He will be the death of you.”
“I am not his favorite, Lexi. He will kill me.” Pulling away, she shook her head. “If you go, you go alone. I am not ending up in a box for a plan which will not work anyway.”
“You are making a mistake.”
Rebekah scoffed. “No, I made a mistake in thinking you or Elijah were worth any of the promises you ever made me. I may be in a gilded cage, Alexandra, but you, you are going to be more trapped by your defection than you ever were by his side.” Glaring at her sister, she spat, “You think I am so stupid, but I know you far better than you believe I do. And I know with every fiber of my being, you do not know how to live without Nik. You can go ten thousand kilometers, go to the very ends of the earth, but he will never leave your mind because, while he is not the only person you love, he has always been the only person you love more than everyone else.” Grabbing the emerald gown she had originally entered the room to borrow, Rebekah declared, “I do not know why you are even bothering to run. You and Niklaus, you are the same terrible monsters; at least he is honest about it.”
Of all the last words Rebekah said through the centuries, all the parting shots designed to sting the recipient, it is the unkind accusation she hurled at Alexandra which haunts her.
KEEP READING