Okay, so I've decided I wanted to start a series of chapters for Elena/Elijah since my desire to want them to just have babies is growing by the second.

Title: Taste of Melancholy

Summary: After long months of being apart from Elijah, Elena is given the things she's always wanted but it's up to her heart whether to choose between what is easy and what is right. Elijah comes back to Mystic Falls with information that ensures the possibility of destroying Klaus once and for all though his eye on choosing allies is as cautious as ever before. Takes place several months after 3x15.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not own these characters or the show.

It was the moment she's always dreamt of since the day Stefan had come back to Mystic Falls. It was the moment in which she thought she was to be utterly joyful and igniting with happiness. When Stefan would brush his fingers gently across her rosy cheeks with the warmth of his desire and say those simple words of 'I love you' to her.

But to Elena's surprise, she found herself only in the arms of content. Just that. Nothing more, nothing less. She stood there in the midst of Stefan's embrace, but instead of feeling a heat of love and satisfaction, she felt hollow and transparent in contrast to what she thought she'd be feeling. It took months of sacrifices, sweat and tears to get to this point and now Elena wondered whether it was worth it. Whether it was worth fighting for Stefan's admiration when all she felt now was just the physicality of the hug, minus the possible emotions. The idea of love tappered with her mind which let loose a ball of confusion. Did she really know what love was? All this time, she'd been in struggle to contemplate whether Damon or Stefan gave her the ingredients she needed to lead a life full of love and laughter but no matter what choice she could possibly make between them, the conflict would always be there. Elena couldn't live with herself if she knew she broke a bond so important between two brothers who couldn't survive without the other. For all she knew, they could be monsters if it weren't for their profound brotherhood. It pained her throughout the whole time she'd been stuck in a crisis which involved a choice of either/or. It terrified her to the vein when Elena replayed many thoughts of curiosity, if she could possibly lose everything in the end.

Then Elijah came along with all his generosity and wisdom. He had characteristics of a man who truly had moral and kept a small pot of humanity behind the vampirism. She admired him for that. He for one, as an original, wasn't ashamed to show an inch of care or empathy but treasured it instead. Elena never had wondered why she instanly felt calm and peaceful when talking to him, or just being in the presence of such a noble man. It amazed her to how something that was outght to be terrifying, faced her with the utmost respect and gentleness. It had been months since Elijah left that letter on her bed and fled from Mystic Falls.

The girl would be lying if she didn't feel at all affected by this. During those months, Elena never realised how much she depended on Elijah to somehow protect her from harm. Even though Damon and Stefan flew opposite poles for her, Elijah had a tone of less pride in his act of saving her. He acquired a true desire to help her, not just from harm but the sufferings of a bad future, knowing her positon in the supernatural world. Suddenly, Elena found herself smiling in thought of him, but part of her wanted to break down and cry because he wasn't here.

Stefan gripped her tightly in the embrace once more before Elena gradually let go and looked down, enabling a soft, hollow smile on her face. She refused to face him. She could never hurt Stefan even in the moments of despair but Elena felt her subconscious tug her towards the truth. She didn't want this. She felt selfish and horrible for thinking such a thing that it brought a tear to her eyes. Stefan noticed Elena's reaction and held her face in his calm hands and said sympathetically, "Hey...what's wrong?"

Elena pursed her lips, trying to barricade the sobs from coming out, "I'm so sorry, Stefan..." His grip on Elena's face started to loosen when the realisation struck him. Stefan nodded his head and faced the floor before he looked up and muttered, "What changed your mind?"

Elena lifted her hands to feel his muscular jaw and said, "I thought this was what I wanted, what I was missing. But now that I'm here, I realise that it's not-"

"So it's Damon." He said without hesitation, adding an agile curiousity to his name.

Elena shook her head, "Surprisingly no." Stefan furrowed his browline and stared at Elena in shock, while stepping a few steps back.

Elena laid her arms by her side helplessly and continued, "You two need each other more than you need me even if you don't know that yet. But you do, and I can't be the cause for a broken family. I can't, Stefan." Her ability to utter any more syllables decreased when she felt inclined to explain what she was feeling. Stefan nodded his head lazily and said, "I guess it's better this way. You know, it's not right if Damon and I forced you into a life of burden and guilt. One thing's for sure, you don't deserve that."

Elena painted a sad smile on her face as she leaned forward and brushed her soft lips on Stefan's forehead as she whispered, "Just get your brother back, okay?" She felt his head move in the way of a nod when she let go and walked towards the door with her eyes still i contact with his. Then she left. When Elena walked through those corridors of the Salvatore house, she almost felt like an alien in a foreign territory. She's never felt so misplaced in her life, and couldn't help but think whether this is what it all came down to. She wanted to sob in her anguish right in that moment but something stopped her. Her heart no longer felt restrained. It was like three sharp knocks on the door of freedom when she noticed that both Salvatores were no longer in that area where she felt circled and concealed. Her steps quickened as they were eager to make it to the front door and she did. She opened the mahogany piece of wood and uncovered the pure sunlight behind it. The world invited her with a greeting and she was damn grateful for that.

Elena struggled to lead her footsteps towards her house but instead, traced back into the midst of a forest. She remembered certain areas as they were similar to the things Elijah had shown her when he found out the truth about Esther's plan. That memory was still as vivid as she could've remembered. The expression of undeniable dissapointment on Elijah's face, when he found out she lied to his face, never left her mind.

Elena looked around while the wind breezed through her straightened hair, allowing it to flutter lightly with the atmosphere. Instead of the wind being harsh and cold, it was gentle and kind unlike those other days when all she could do was match her mood with angry nature. Although, one thing for sure, she felt deeply isolated in a way where she didn't feel complete. Almost as if it was wrong to stand on nature's ground alone, with the absence of another. In that moment, she wanted it to be Elijah. Suddenly she felt inclined to leave the territory, no longer feeling the calmness of the world but rather the poignant perspective of it and it made her shiver with the breeze, rather than flow with it.

Her skin crawled while the trees brushed against each other in contact with the atmosphere. Her legs weakened to the realisation of empty solitude. Elena's confusion as to why she was feeling this way, entitled a broken relationship with everything around her. The ground, the sun, the sky, the Earth. Everything just seemed to feel out of her hands and in hesitation to cooperate with her as if in a roaring argument with her emotions. Maybe it was nature's way of saying that it was time to resolute her emotions and find out where they really lied.

Eventually, Elena made her way out of the forest and walked towards her car which was parked at the end of the street. Her eyes trailed the surrounding area, while she fiddled with the metal surafce of the keys, as they rattled against each other, sounding the only noise in the atmosphere at that moment. Her feet travelled across the road until she reached half-way when she spotted a mysterious looking man in casual attire beside her car. Elena slowly took several step backwards as a reflex, trying to avoid any trouble there was to offer. She struggled to portray a sensible and usual stance in her action but anyone could see the tense shoulders and the trembling movements of her body.

Then in a sudden jolt, a figure from behind her swept past Elena with immense speed and stood in front of her, causing Elena to stagger backwards inhabiting an expression of terrified shock painted over her visage. It didn't take Elena that long to realise the man was a vampire, although she attempted to face him with a piercing stare and a brave face, no matter how transparent it seemed.

Her jaw clenched in utmost caution, "Who are you?" Her arms were by her side but were ready to defend herself from harm's way. The perferably young man cocked his eyebrow and cleared his throat in arrogance, displaying a non-effective reaction to the question.

He smiled in amusement and muttered, "Theo, and you... must be Elena..." his voice expelled a rough undertone which contrasted with his outward features, which were rather softer. He acquired a gentle touch to his auburn skin that failed to seem aged in any way, he was a vampire after all.. His eyes were emphasised with a shade of ocean blue but rimmed with a tint of olive green while his hair appeared scruffy and in the colour of dirty brown. A tiny hint of a smirk appeared on the side of his thin lips while he exposed a white piece of paper from beneath the black leather jacket he was wearing. The man lifted the paper up with his two fingers and gestured it towards Elena who was still in hesitation to give in to anything.

She said, applying a shaken voice, "What is it?" Elena remained still and cautious, avoiding to be naiive and helpless in the heat of an unexpected situtation.

The man sighed while his grip on the letter tightened with frustration, "If you must know, it's a letter..." Elena tilted her head in profound curiosity, as she recovered from the fear by the second, replacing it with grinding anxiety, "From who?" she asked, compelled to the revelation.

The vampire in front of her replied respectively, ascending his electrifying stare deeper into Elena's brown eyes, "From Elijah."

Elijah stood behind the glass surface of his window and peered his eyes among the greenery of the outside world. The trees swayed through the weariness of the wind, extracting the happiness it once was. His breath endured a tone of exhaustion and pain as though at the thought of all the situations he's gone through the past few months. Finally, he was back home at Mystic Falls and somehow all the memories he'd wished he would forget came back in a flash of reoccuence. He remembered leaving the border of Mystic Falls. He remembered walking out on Rebekah and Klaus, leaving them to fend for themselves unattaching his protection towards them. He remembered writing those words on that paper, intending to be given to someone he deared very much. And he also remembered thrashing his arms around the innocent Elena in such a monstrous manner, only to be burdened with a cloud of regret just moments after. A range of emotions washed over him as he sighed.

He turned his back on the window and walked towards the edge of his study and sat on the antique styled chair. His hand reached for the black-inked pen while the other prepared a blank piece of paper in front of him. Elijah took a moment to resolute his emotions and figure out what exactly he was going to write before the ink finally touched the surface of the paper.

Elena decided to read the letter that was given to her by Theo, just before she entered her house. She sat herself down on the porch stairs and exhaled an assuring breath before her eyes trailed the words on the paper.

Dearest Elena,

After several months of solitude in the territories, I have only written this letter to let you know I have come back to Mystic Falls and you have the right to know why. I realise that It is not my rightful place to engage you into a situation where you must feel obliged by me, to do anything but it is in my complete duty to have you know things about Klaus, in which could be vital for his final destruction. I should assume you remember the caves I have recounted to you before. If you are wiling, meet me there before noon, tomorrow.

Elijah.