*Spoilers for 3x22: The Departed* *You have been warned*
Disclaimer: I don't own Vampire Diaries... if I did, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be wondering WTF just happened... :'(
Elijah led Rebekah silently up the driveway, his hand gripping her wrist tightly. Rebekah trudged along behind him. The only thing other than the feel of her slender wrist that assured she was still with him was her occasional sniffle. He felt her pause slightly when they walked up to the steps before the entrance of the ominous mansion.
He turned to look at her, and the sight of his baby sister with puffy eyes and tears cascading down her face tugged so ferociously at his heartstrings that he pulled her into his arms, once again, immediately. "Shh, Rebekah."
"It's not home without him, 'Lijah."
"I know, little one, but we need to stay somewhere tonight. Come now."
He led her into the house and they both stopped short, looking around in the vast darkness. Elijah almost expected his younger brother to stride through one of the many different archways leading into other rooms, and ask them why they looked so ridiculous, huddled together like they were. But as much as Elijah wished for that, he knew it wouldn't happen. His brother was gone and their last exchange had been full of anger and hate and it was something that Elijah would regret for the rest of his existence.
He led Rebekah to her room where her belongings were packed away in boxes. Elijah watched as she moved mechanically to her bed and lay down as sobs began to shake her body. He walked over and stroked her hair, murmuring to her that everything would be all right.
"H..ho…how? He..ee's gone. Nik's gone and it's all my fault."
"No, no, Rebekah. You mustn't think like that, little one," Elijah said, tears of his own stinging his eyes. "It's not your fault. He wouldn't want you to think that."
"He was there for me…always and forever and the one time he needed me, I couldn't help him. I'm a terrible sister!"
"Rebekah," Elijah said, taking her face in his hands and wiping her tears with his thumbs. "Niklaus loved you, more than anyone. You were the only one of us who stuck with him. You are not a terrible sister. You were the only one of us who showed him that someone cared. Rest assured, little one, that he knows you came after him. He knows you tried to save him and that gave him comfort in his final moments. I'm sure of it."
Rebekah looked into Elijah's eyes and tried to smile, tried to find a way to take comfort in his words, but she couldn't. So, in stead, she held on tightly to the one brother she had left, the one brother who seemed to care. And he let her. Rebekah hung onto him like he was her only life line.
Elijah held on to her just as tightly and let a few tears of his own escape. His brother. His little brother whom he had taught to wield a sword so long ago, His baby brother was gone, forever, and Elijah was sure that he might never come to terms with it.
Eventually, Rebekah fell asleep in his embrace and he gently eased her out of his arms and tucked a blanket around her huddled body before he left the room. Elijah walked silently through the house, the home his brother had built for all of them. He was hoped that he and Rebekah and Kol could enjoy it one day in the future…if they could ever get past the fact that Niklaus wouldn't be able to as well.
It was wrong and it was unfair. Rebekah was now without two of her older brothers. Kol…oh how he dreaded when he would have to break the news to Kol. The boy- that's all Elijah could ever see Kol as, just a boy who had admired his older brother more than would have ever met the eye.
Elijah pulled his phone out of his pocket, letting it slide through his hand several times before pulling his courage together and dialing the number.
"What now, 'Lijah?" Kol drawled, obviously irritated that his eldest brother kept calling him. Elijah could just see the eye roll that was Kol's equivalent to Niklaus' smirk. He couldn't answer right away as he felt his feet stop in front of Niklaus' desk, several sketches haphazardly covering the wooden surface. He let his fingers trail along them. " 'Lijah?" Kol asked again, his voice softer this time, sensing that something was not right. "What's wrong?"
"Kol…Niklaus is gone."
He heard the boy pause, taking in his words. Elijah thought the silence would kill him as he waited for Kol to respond, to breathe, to do anything.
"Gone?" he finally asked in a broken voice.
The word sounded so final, so hollow and Elijah felt his heart start to throb. "Yes, gone as in dead."
"No," was all Kol could muster. He said it in a strangled voice and Elijah, alone, could hear the pain and tears that his youngest brother tried to hide.
"I'm so sorry, little brother. Rebekah and I need you with us. He would have wanted us to stay together and protect each other, always and forever."
"I'll be in Mystic Falls by morning," Kol whispered before the line was cut, leaving a deafening silence in its wake.
Begging for a way to keep busy, Elijah studied the sketches his brother had messily left behind. Beautiful landscapes and portraits (he was positive one was of Caroline Forbes) and memories of his brother's that now only existed on pieces of parchment. There was a piece that caught his eye, hidden under layers of sketches and he cautiously pulled it out from under the pile and felt his jaw drop slightly as he stared, his eyes raking in every inch.
It was of all of them. Elijah, Finn, Rebekah, and Kol from Niklaus' perspective. It was as they had once been, friendly and loving, laughing as they rode on horseback through the woods.
The ever-present, mischievous glint in Kol's eyes that lit up his boyish features. The reprimanding way Elijah tried to look at his youngest brother to hide his obvious amusement. The regal way that Rebekah carried herself as she looked over her shoulder with a smirk at, whom Elijah presumed was Niklaus. Finn's seemingly permanent scowl fighting the pull of a smile at his lips The aspect of family and love.
It was all there, forever engrained in shades of grey, including the tiny "Always and Forever, N.M." at the bottom, scrawled hastily in his brother's hand, the trace of a fingerprint in the bottom, left hand corner.
Elijah wiped the tears from his face as he gingerly folded the parchment and stuck it in his coat pocket. He lingered in the room for a minute, head bowed in a last testament to his brother, to the man that had so desperately wanted nothing more than to love and be loved in return. The man that had kept his secret, his greatest desire tightly locked away deep down inside of him to fight for the greater good. The man that had unfairly died before he could see his dream through. The man that had kept their family safe.
The man that Elijah thought he could never be.
He slowly walked back to Rebekah's room and sat on the wooden floor outside. He pulled the sketch back out and ran his fingers over the charcoal stained parchment.
"Niklaus," he whispered, leaning his head against the wall, his eyes filling with tears as they looked up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, little brother. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you when you were there for all of us but I swear to you that I will keep Kol and Rebekah safe. The safety of our family should have never been your responsibility, little brother. It should have been mine."
A single, perfect tear fell down his handsome features and landed onto the parchment.
"I should have been able to give you what you always wanted. I love you, Niklaus. Always and forever."
A/N: Once again, SO MANY EMOTIONS...can someone compel me to turn them off? Seriously, Julie Plec & Kevin Williamson, seriously? I still love you and all because you are too amazing to hate but...UGH.
Anyways, my heart absolutely BROKE for Rebekah and Elijah. Rebekah has lost so much in her life and now this (even if Klaus' isn't technically gone). You can see it written all over Elijah's face. Neither of them wanted Klaus to die :'( my poor Originals...
So, here's to a long four months without TVD, without JoMo reaping havoc as our favorite villain (JoMo better be back at somepoint in S4), without the chaos that we know and love in Mystic Falls, without having to worry if our favorite characters (RIP Ric, btw) will make it. HURRY UP SEPTEMBER, I MISS THE ANXIETY ALREADY! I hope you enjoyed this incredibly depressing fic and, please, if you have a minute, review! Thanks:)