Lost brothers

"Hi, Elijah, this is me, Kol, as you must have seen since you ignored me again for the hundredth time. I get it, why you don't want to hear from me, but believe me, this is important even for you now. Call me, when you finally heard this message.

This is not about some stupid debate which you are so bored and me too, it's really important and I think you are the only one that can stop them, I'm not enough. I need you, Elijah. They went completely insane, Rebekah and Klaus, and everyone in Mystic Falls. They want to raise this Silas thing. Have you ever heard about him? I'm sure you have. You know about everything. So, he's dangerous, but they don't believe me that he will destroy all of us and our world too. I don't want this world to be destroyed because I like it the way it is and I know so do you – and yeah, I admit it only to you that I'm afraid of him 'cause he's stronger than all of us would be together.

I need your help to stop this.

I'm already on the case, so don't worry too much, you don't need more wrinkles, but I don't know if I can succeed. I am not good at saving the world, it's you. The thing is that I know what they need to do the ritual. They have everything in separate places: the sword of a Hunter of the Five, a Bennett witch, who you already know and a Hunter of the Five in full bloom, because they are back, and it's Jeremy Gilbert, and since they are all helping him to complete his mark, he is almost ready. The thing is that they don't care about Silas, but they need to wake him to get a cure for vampirism. It's supposed to be for Silas, but they want it for either Klaus or Elena Gilbert, or themselves, I don't know and I don't care since I will prevent it any way I can think of. Maybe my methods aren't the best, but I must try, Elijah, even if I die trying. I have the white oak stake all the time with me, but they are after me. I don't want you to save my ass again, but you are the only one that I can trust, and I also want you to know that I tried.

I tried, Elijah, but I can't know how it ends, so I want to tell you how much I always appreciated that you'd been standing by me. You were always the best brother possible while I was the worst. I'd really like to say that now I'm doing this to fix some of my past faults, but you'd still know it's not true and I'm still the selfish jerk I've always been.

So, anyway, I told you what I wanted, but I'm not that selfish this time. I don't want you to help – well, I want, but I won't ask. Do as you wish, I take full responsibility. Enjoy your freedom, you deserved it. And call me maybe, like they sing it in that silly song, when you're missing me. Bye!"

Beep.

His voicemail went silent. That was it. This single message from his little brother took much longer than the usual messages, but he still felt it too short.

Last day, his phone rang all day, but he made an effort to ignore it until the early morning – until that, he preferred the pleasant company of Katerina to the complaints of his siblings. He couldn't care less this time – he needed some rest after a thousand years. He mostly ignored them since he left Mystic Falls, he never listened to his voicemail – it was automatically deleted after a month if not saved – nor did he read his messages from them. Still, today was special for him so far. He finally slept with the woman he waited five whole centuries for. Half of his life. He felt a bit stupid for he was still dreaming about the same woman, and since it was Katerina, he needed to remain suspicious until anything else is proven. He should return to reality now, so he left her in the bed and did some research about his siblings.

Catching up with Klaus' and Rebekah's life proved to be easy, since they lived together and Rebekah texted him dozens of times per week, while Klaus sent him spicy quotes about what he missed almost daily.

He wanted to be interested, but their sometimes childish complaints were just plain boring. Then, he found the most recent message. It came from Klaus; it was short and shocking.

"I need you to come home. I'm imprisoned in the Gilbert house. They are gonna kill me, I send you their whereabouts, take care of them. They already killed Kol."

He couldn't breathe for minutes. He simply didn't understand what his brother wrote. Kol cannot be killed.

And when did it happen? Why? He didn't waste a thought about Klaus' orders. Kol was the only one who let him be for a while, but for days he kept on calling him, but never sent a message.

Only a voicemail, which he listened now, but for the moment, Kol's phone seemed to be switched off.

He can't be dead.

Elijah had to listen it one more time. He needed to hear his voice again.

-x-x-

Kol was the sweetest baby he thought to be born on Earth. Elijah was ten years old that time, and Kol was his first brother he remembered as a baby, since Niklaus was only two years younger.

He still remembered the hours when they were waiting with his father and his brothers, and the moment when Ayanna came out of the room. Until then, they heard so much screaming and shouting that he could literally feel his mother's pain. Kol was her only child whose birth she'd never talk about.

"It's a boy," Ayanna announced. His father only nodded and left to continue his daily routine. Finn, Niklaus and himself stared at each other, then Niklaus shrugged.

"Another boy, who cares? At least a sister would be pretty." He run outside and Finn followed him. Finn has always kept an eye on Niklaus, knowing he was a wild child. Finn instead liked peace, and he tried to keep his brothers calm too, but Niklaus and Elijah were always fighting as if they were born to be rivals till death. Elijah knew that another brother meant only more trouble for Finn.

It seemed that only he was excited about his newborn brother, and his curiosity kept him waiting quietly for Ayanna to return with some supplies for his mother. Beside excitement, he also feared what he'd see there, so he needed all of his bravery to ask Ayanna:

"May I go in with you?"

"Yes, you can," she answered with a sad and understanding smile. He still remembered this moment and now he also understood what she chose not to say. Ayanna had always been so wise. "But be quiet."

He did so. His mother was lying on the bed half asleep, with little Kol next to her. She didn't have the strength to hold the baby to herself. Elijah sat down beside them. He looked shyly at his mother; he had never seen her so tired before. He turned to his little brother seemingly asleep, but when he carefully touched his purplish face, Kol opened up his eyes. Elijah feared that he would cry, because babies did it often.

"Please don't cry, little baby, I'm just your older brother!" he pleaded him and put his hand on Kol's chest. He was so small, but Kol liked his touch, he looked interested. "I'm Elijah, and I like you and I will be here for you always and forever," he promised him.

And now I wasn't.

-x-x-

Kol was a mischievous toddler and he grew up to be a rogue teenager. However, Elijah reckoned that it was not his fault: he lacked control and discipline, because their parents had other problems. Elijah was already grown-up, so he understood well the situation of his family: Finn, as the eldest, made both their parents proud, and he became a good and reliable son. On the contrary, Niklaus was wild and the bad boy of the town, so he took all attention and rigor. Rebekah was the little princess, while Henrik, as the youngest, the baby. Kol and Elijah always remained on the periphery of their parents' vision, although Elijah managed to gain some attention because of their constant feud with Niklaus. But Kol... Elijah let him follow him around when he was little, but he was the only brother that involved Kol in any way in his activities. After Rebekah was born, Kol grew close to her, but when they discovered that Rebekah was handled differently, Kol began to tend toward his brothers again. That's also the reason he'd never wasted a thought on his own little brother, Henrik. As Kol remained unnoticed by their parents, he started doing wilder and rougher things. Elijah later realized that their parents didn't feel the strength to rein him in at the same time as Niklaus. They simply left him be and let him be forgotten and lost.

Elijah tried to help and guide him, but he wasn't the father Kol needed, so the only thing he could do was to stand by him and clean up his mess. Kol often made angry comments when Elijah helped him, but never truly pushed him away – he was smart enough to realize that he shouldn't actively make himself lonelier. So many times Elijah took him home after a fight with a werewolf boy – or a pack –, collect him when he got drunk, or later, when he found out what girls are for...

No one in their family has ever got to know that they still had a living bloodline – well, not one, several – thanks to Kol.

And now he has to carry the regret through the eternity for not telling his brother he was a father.

-x-x-

When they turned, all his siblings reacted differently. Finn was sad and wanted to die. Niklaus found out the dirty secret of his parentage after his werewolf side got awakened, and considered their mother a liar who betrayed them all – but mostly him. Rebekah cried for days, because she wanted to be a wife and a mother, but now people feared her, and she wasn't even a witch anymore. Elijah himself was the calmest: he didn't understand what exactly happened either, but his personality made him accept every situation quickly, then take the control over his life again.

Unlike his siblings, Kol could not be happier with the new developments. He was always trying to be stronger, but now he was one of the strongest beings of the world. He became the powerful creature of the night and that made him self-confident and really evil.

While Finn ran away because of the shame, Kol fled to terrorize the unsuspecting people all over the world, and when he got bored, he visited his family to terrorize them.

And I let him do this because he enjoyed it and I had never seen him so joyful any other time.

-x-x-

"So, mate," Klaus opened the conversation. Elijah growled softly when Klaus called his own brother 'mate'. "Why we get the respect to be your hosts again? Don't you have a castle in the countryside here? Or are you so full of human blood that you can't take in more? I'm hearing you take a bath in the blood of virgins daily, aren't you?"

"You are always welcomed here, Kol," Elijah interrupted, before Klaus got over their brother's infamously low limits of tolerance.

"You are always so nice to me face to face, Elijah, but you know, I don't care," he answered, his signature smile appearing on his face. "Neither 'bout you," he turned to Klaus, losing the smile, showing honest disinterest.

"Are you sure?" Klaus asked in a threatening tone. "You might think you're the strongest, but I am superior to you!"

"Thanks, good to know," he shrugged, "but don't be a narcissist, because one day, I may call you out for an open fight, heard and seen by everyone. What would you say? Are you scared of getting beaten by me?" He threw a cocky smirk towards Klaus, who growled back at him.

"Let us know instead about how you are doing nowadays," Elijah changed the topic.

"Nothing spectacular. Feeding and killing and sex and entertainment. Though I'm waiting for an answer to my question." He was still glaring at Klaus.

"I don't think it is a proper subject for dinner," Elijah said.

"You know what?" Kol asked dropping everything from his hands on the table. "I've finished my dinner. I don't need it. But I want to hear that answer out loud!"

"Please, Kol, wait a bit..."

"No, mate, you don't need to wait. I'm done with dinner too." Klaus stood up from his chair. "You desire this answer so much, so you get it! Please, walk outside with me."

"Don't." Elijah interrupted, pushing all the sternness he possessed in this one word.

"Are you speaking against me?" Klaus shouted.

"No, I only think that I should escort Kol out and he should not arrive uninvited next time."

"Please, Nik," asked Rebekah, frightened by the tension between them. Elijah was grateful that she spoke for the first time this night, because she was their brother's only soft spot.

"Well, he should never return to us! If so, I will kill him and everyone who he'd ever met!" Klaus promised.

"That includes you, too!" Kol laughed.

Elijah rose and hoped Kol would follow him outside. Anger still boiled in Kol's eyes, but now, directed at Elijah.

"Why do you always feel the urge to defend me?"

"You are my brother!" he began, but Kol was too impatient to listen.

"I don't care! You are a hypocrite, and you don't have to prevent me to confront with Klaus just because you did and lost!" he shouted at him, and left on vampire speed.

Only I was sticking to a promise that I made unasked and unanswered.

-x-x-

Next morning, Elijah woke with a bad feeling, but he thought it was the bitter memory of last night's fight. However, it wasn't. Klaus was still out and he arrived early afternoon covered in blood. His face was numb and he didn't say a word which meant something was extremely wrong.

"What happened?" Elijah asked worriedly.

"Kol happened!" he answered in a dejected voice.

"What? No! He left last night, I saw!" He swallowed. His guts already knew he's going to hear some really bad news.

"Not so far from here, he moved in to a village. I went to feed there in the morning and I found him there, sitting on the top of a huge pyramid of dead bodies. I didn't kill him just for food, he said to me he will always be only one step ahead of me while driving me crazy. I couldn't let him run!"

"No."

"I had to kill him, Elijah!" He cried on the voice of the scared little brother who did something wrong, and Elijah had to hear the whole story. "Do not blame me this time!"

"No..." he sighed, trying to control his grief. "What did you do, Niklaus? Why could you not let him run? He was only..."

"What?" Klaus hissed. "Are you siding with him again? While you're staring at me covered only in my own blood, because he was too obsessed with ripping my heart out of my chest and I wasn't capable of making a single scratch on him! I'm thankful that I was aware of the danger he meant and I took the silver dagger with me! But dare not blame me this time, Elijah, for not letting myself killed, because that's exactly what you're also doing all the time! But now, I was all alone with him, and he was stronger than me, Elijah, and you're siding with him when he was stronger than me!" he cried. He stopped his rambling, fell on his knees and began sobbing. Elijah didn't know how to react. He had never seen Klaus break down like this before. He was sobbing alone and he seemed so vulnerable... he embraced his crying little brother and for the moment, he could forgive him for the fratricide.

Still, I never forgot...

"I don't take sides when it's about my siblings." he stated.

-x-x-

But deep inside, I always did. I was always on Kol's side more than on the others', even when he didn't need it. He became strong on his own.

Still, when one time he was in real need, he remained alone. And he died.

And now, the second time I left him, he's gone forever - before getting my forgiveness and apologies which he earned and deserved.

Elijah always considered Kol to be the lost brother, but this time, he felt it to be himself. He was making a series of mistakes, but now, he knew how he should fix them, no matter how hard this way is...

THE END