Author's Note: So, me again. This one's about when Elijah is leaving Mystic Falls and finds out about what Rebekah has done.
Elijah could barely believe it was happening to him again. But taking in the pitch black night around him, save for the dull grey road lit by the car's headlights, he had to admit that it had. He was fleeing Mystic Falls yet again.
The very first time he'd left the town with the intent of never returning again had been nearly a thousand years ago, but then he'd had his brother and sister at his side at least. This time he was alone.
His grip around the leather of the steering wheel tightened. Klaus was dead. It hadn't registered with him quite yet. First Finn and then Niklaus… he could hardly bare to think about it.
Finn had been a distant memory, locked away in a coffin for the last nine centuries. A brother he had loved, but had nearly forgotten his very being, believing he was gone forever. And during the centuries memories of him had faded: who he was, what he liked, all those important details that make a person whole in your eyes.
But Niklaus… They had spent a millennium on this earth together, both as friends and as enemies, but always as brothers. He knew Klaus better then he probably knew anyone. Every expression he could produce, every mannerism he subconsciously followed had burned into his mind somewhere along the thousand years.
How could he be dead?
And how had everything turned into this nightmarish present?
When he'd found out about his mothers latest plot to kill them, he'd sensed trouble, but certainly not a disaster in such catastrophic proportions as these – a highly skilled and determined vampire hunter on their trail, who was, among other things, immortal and likely as strong or even stronger than them. Not to mention he was in the possession of the only weapon in the world that could kill them. Permanently.
Elijah fiddled with the radio for a moment to distract himself, tuning it on some classical music station. He needed a breath.
He and Rebekah had arranged to meet in Charleston in ten hours to assess their current situation and devise a general plan of action. She had gone off to get Kol, who stubbornly refused to answer his phone, and Elijah was going to retrieve Klaus's coffin with whatever remained of him to give him a proper burial in the least. His sister had told him not to go back, but he'd reassured her that it was very unlikely that the hunter would reappear in the storage unit.
Elijah was well aware that Rebekah wasn't happy with the way he'd handled things, but she'd obey him nonetheless. Still, partly he felt guilty for putting his sister in a situation where all she had to look forward to was another lifetime of running. Especially after the death of two of their brothers.
But as much as he wanted to do right by his sister, Elijah simply couldn't bring himself to murder Elena in cold blood and he knew she'd never agree to be turned into a vampire.
Had it just been someone else, someone he didn't know like he knew her… Better yet, someone he didn't know at all. But it had to be her. It always had to be her.
Elijah smiled resignedly, his eyes still trained on the road, cold and distant. It was tragicomical in a way. Since the day he'd met Elena Gilbert her life had seemingly never stopped being in jeopardy. It was a small miracle she had managed to stay alive through all that had happened.
No, he couldn't have taken it away now.
Suddenly the ringing of his cell phone startled Elijah out of his thoughts. He retrieved the device from his jacket pocket, glancing at the caller ID.
"Rebekah," he answered the call calmly, though his insides had tightened in concern. His sister had barely escaped the hunter before, what if something had happened and he was too far away to help? He shouldn't have left her alone…
"Turn the car around, Elijah," she said in a shaky voice. "It's done. It's over."
He didn't quite understand, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion, but he suspected she was about to say something he didn't want to hear. "What is over, Rebekah?"
There was a short moment of silence on the other end before she answered. "Elena is dead," she stated bluntly, her tone rough with both guilt and defiance.
Elijah literally felt his breath catch and his eyes widen at her statement. His mind seemed to have frozen for an instant. "What did you do?" he demanded, not nearly as calm as before.
"What I had to do to protect us. Please, brother, try to understand that." She sounded almost as if she was begging him now, her voice small and fearful.
"I gave them my word," he hissed, trying to convince himself that his broken promise was the reason for his anger, not the fact that he had come to care about her.
His words seemed to fuel her temper as she snapped at him: "And what good does the weight of your word do to us when we're dead, pray tell?"
Elijah took a long breath, willing himself to remain composed and rational. "You shouldn't have killed her," he said quietly, defeatedly. He could have raged and shouted at his sister, but what was the use? His anger wouldn't bring Elena back, nothing would.
"She was just one human," she reasoned, fury once again absent in her voice. "I couldn't risk losing you over the insignificant life of one human girl."
He wanted to find the strength in him to argue with her or explain to himself why he would even want to. A part of him wanted to explore what he felt for Elena Gilbert and another part wanted to bury it, shove it all away and forget it. It didn't matter anymore anyway.
"Meet me at the house," Rebekah said then, bringing him back to reality. And then the line disconnected.
Elijah felt numb as he steered the car to the side of the road. He switched off the headlights making the world around him fall into utter darkness where only the buttons on the instrument panel glowed in different colors.
He didn't know what to do or what to feel, everything was falling apart it seemed. His mind was in overdrive, thoughts racing by, but he couldn't concentrate on any of them.
Briefly Klaus's face swam to the surface, then Finn's and finally Elena's. He'd never see them again.
And never for a vampire, it's a very long time, his own words played in his head.
Elijah exited the car, closing the door behind him with a loud thud. He paced back and forth on the asphalt as he took long even breaths, running his hands through his hair.
A million different feelings boiled inside of him, none of them pleasant and most of them foreign as it was a long time since he'd been so overcome with… emotions? It seemed as if he'd forgotten how to express instead of suppress them, though he was sure had he been in a public place he'd managed to stay stone-faced without much effort. Out here he didn't have to.
The night air felt cold and refreshing. It woke up his senses again and slowed down his mind. In time his pacing grew slower, until he stopped in his tracks. His surroundings that had appeared as a vague blur a moment ago became clear, and finally he felt like himself again.
Elijah opened the car door and sat back on the driver's seat. He didn't bother to keep his usually elegant posture, but let his shoulders slump and his arms fall loosely to the sides. He wasn't mad at his sister; he'd been able to deduce that. What she'd done, she'd done out of love and fear, not out of cruelty. He hoped that much was true. In any case, that's what he chose to believe.
After all, not long before, he'd been the one threatening Elena's life. Something he was not proud of.
No, he wasn't mad at Rebekah, though he hated what she'd done. He was just numb. It was all too sudden, too impossible what had happened today, it felt like a dream still.
How could he go back? How could he look into the eyes of the, no doubt, inconsolable Salvatore brothers and admit it was his fault she was dead. He was the one responsible for upholding their deal, after all.
But he couldn't run away like a coward. That would cost him every last shred of honor he had. So he knew he would go back, he would meet Rebekah and then he'd face the wrath of Stefan and Damon and whoever else had loved her. Because that was the right thing to do and then maybe his soul, assuming he had one, could find some peace.