AN: Why, you might ask, why would I write this? I love being dead and dying from feels that's why. If Elena was human and had kids like the finale implied...
His blood freezes in his veins. He knew this was coming, and the girl turns her head to look at him. She's not Elena. She's not. Elena died after a long, human life and he held her hand as she died. This is his curse, he thinks. To care about the doppelgangers and watch them die. Katerina died after Elena did, this girl's the last one unless she wants children.
"You're Elijah. You're the one who's been protecting the Petrova line," she breathes and it's not Tatia's voice, it's not Katerina's voice, it's not Elena's voice. They're all different but he hasn't seen a picture of Elena in so long and she's just there looking like a carbon copy of the woman who died loving him, wrinkled and white haired.
"Yes. I made a promise to Elena Gilbert, the last doppelganger to keep your line safe as long as I exist," he says crisply, almost roughly. Elijah wonders as he has over the years, if Elena can see him, if she's watching this.
"I know. You're like a myth almost," she says and she isn't Elena.
"I'm aware. Have a good day," he says and she stares at him with a confused he's seen too often on that face.
What he does now isn't living, it's existing, and he wonders if the latest doppelganger knows the difference.