Disclaimer: I do not own anything
AN:this was inspired by a gifset where we see Elena relieved that he has a way to save her.
"You have a way to save me?" She asks, and she looks tense, not at all how he expected. He nods, confirming it. He doesn't expect her next words.
"What if I didn't want to be saved, Elijah?" She asks. They both know it was not part of their agreement. She had specified loved ones. Not herself. He had thought she would be happy about it, but then-Elena Gilbert always surprised him.
"Explain." It's a request but comes out as a demand.
"I'm tired, Elijah." She emphasizes the second word.
"The kind of tired sleep can't fix." She clarifies before he can say anything.
"If I die-" She takes a deep breath.
"If I die, no one else has to die for me. Caroline was turned because of me. Because of Katherine wanted to be petty. I am responsible for my birth mother's death, and Jeremy has died, and I killed my parents, Elijah. I am responsible for their deaths and this is too heavy for me to carry and I'm tired." She does look tired. She looks exhausted, like she's a few more movements away from falling apart.
"The supernatural has a way of messing up even the what ifs. In any given situation, your parents could still be dead. They could be alive, your brother could die tomorrow from food poisoning. Death has a way of always taking people away. You could have made none of the same decisions and still lost them, Elena." He tells her.
"But the what if's-" She trails off for a moment and he lets her think in silence.
"The what ifs's are the most painful." She says, and she wants him to understand because no one else ever has.
"They are." He acknowledges.
"How do you do it? How do you live for hundreds of years and still want to get up in the morning?" It's unthinkable for her, she's only seventeen and she doesn't want to ever be one hundred, let alone a thousand years old.
"Things have a way of getting better." He says simply.
"When?" She presses.
"It's not that simple. Things take time. There is nothing that can magically fix everything. There is no set timeline. It's different for everyone." He informs her.
"When do you think it will get better for me?" She asks. She wants to stop losing people. She wants a happy life. He gives her a hint of a grin.
"Stay alive and find out." He proposes.
"Are you suggesting a deal?" She asks, looking at him with those doe eyes of hers.
"Perhaps. Would you like to negotiate it?" He asks, and he sees, that she'll stay another day.
finis