Disclaimer: I do not own Elijah or any elements from the Vampire Diaries/the Originals. I do, however, own my OC Eternity and any elements from my up and coming novel. Please review! I'd appreciate it a lot! Thanks and happy reading!
Author's Note: Welcome to the third installment of my Elijah's Eternity series: Cosmic Reset! If you have not been following the series, you should check out the previous fics: Elijah's Eternity and Elijah's Eternity: New Orleans to catch up. If you have been following along, I hope you enjoy this fic as much as or even more so than the previous installments! Thank you again for reading! Enjoy!
Elijah Mikaelson awoke to an empty bed. He sat up and found his wife missing. He reached and felt that the spot next to him was cold, meaning she had been up for a while. Then he heard the cooing of their year and a half year old daughter as well as Eternity's sweet laughter.
Rising from the bed, dressed in nothing but a pair of black pajama bottoms, he padded into the front room where he found his two lovely ladies sitting on the ornate rug between the two couches of their loft home. Eternity was smiling and playing with their baby, lifting her up over her head and wiggling her to make the small child giggle and coo.
Elijah couldn't help but grin at them. His heart burst with such joy at the sight of them. It drew him in, like a magnet, unable to resist coming near. He came to sit next to his lady as carefully as he could. He didn't want to disturb the moment too much with his sudden presence.
Despite his efforts, Eternity looked at him with surprise and a hint of wariness that melted into warmth as she realized who he was - a frequent occurrence. "Good morning, Elijah," she greeted him, as she turned her attention back to their daughter. "Say good morning to your daddy, Ari! Say good morning!" She cooed in a singsong fashion as she bounced the little one.
Arianna Katerina Mikaelson looked over at her father with big brown eyes and a joyous smile. She looked so much like himself with her dark colorings, strong jaw, and pouty lips. In fact, the only thing that reminded Elijah of Eternity was the slight curliness of her wispy brown locks. A surprising turn as he had thought she'd be like his wife's other children, Hel and Fenrir, both of whom were clone-like of their mother. Instead, it seemed he had himself a female clone in little Ari.
The baby reached for him and Eternity happily handed her over, letting him stand her up on his outstretched legs as he peppered her little chubby cheeks with kisses. The ethereal woman smiled fondly at at them, something that Elijah caught out of the corner of his eye, before she got up from the floor.
He finally noticed she was already dressed for the day in a pair of skinny jeans and a black tank top with a pair of wedge sandals on her feet. It seemed she was going somewhere and that concerned him. Hayley had accused him once of being an overprotective husband, but with Eternity's affliction, he felt responsible for keeping his wife safe. He didn't like her leaving his side for fear something might happen to her, especially since he remembered Katherine's threat of returning with Loki. He had to be vigilant, if he was going to ensure his lady didn't unknowingly fall into enemy hands.
"Where are you going, Sweetheart?" Elijah asked her as casually as he could without sounding demanding.
"I am going across the river, into the Quarter," she replied easily. Upon his frowning response, she rolled her eyes at him and grinningly added, "Do not worry, Hayley and Rebekah will be with me. I'll have adequate chaperoning to set my worrier husband's mind at ease."
She had meant that teasingly in a good natured fashion, but Elijah was not amused. He took her safety seriously and simply wanted to ensure it, especially of she was going somewhere without him.
Still, instead of making an issue out of her jest, he simply got up from the floor with Ari on his hip and went over to Eternity. Once he was close, Elijah reached out and cupped the side of her neck, staring down into her sapphire eyes lovingly as he said, "As long as others are with you, I suppose I can let you out my sight for a while." He flashed her a teasing smile, before leaning over to kiss her lips gently.
Eternity immediately melted into it, reciprocating his kiss, before pulling away and bitting her lower lip as she gazed up at him beneath her lashes.
Elijah could see her former self whenever she did that. It was almost like a moment of recognition, of remembering, but it was fleeting, disappearing as quickly as it came. Still, he always considered those moments as progress toward his wife's awakening from her amnesia.
"Well, I shall see you two in a little while, yes?" His lady said softly.
He nodded and smiled gently, before stealing one last kiss. Then he let her go meet with her sister-in-laws the the French Quarter.
Once Eternity was gone, Elijah turned to his daughter and said, "Well, it looks like it shall be you and I for a while, my sweet, so what will we get up to on this fine day, eh?"
Ari smiled and cooed at him in response.
"Yes, my thoughts exactly," he chuckled, kissing the baby's head tenderly.
After dressing for the day at enhanced vampire speed, Elijah had decided to take his daughter out to local park, where they could enjoy the fresh Louisiana air. He dressed in the proper attire for play time, casually dressing in dark jeans, tee shirt, and a light jacket with his typical dress boots. Perfect for playtime at the playground.
Upon arrival at the park, the Original spent his time following his toddling daughter as she tried to climb on the small age appropriate climber. While doing so, Elijah reflected on the past two years of his life.
When Eternity had vanished immediately after losing her memory, he had acted quickly; once he recovered from the initial feeling of loss, of course. After resetting from using the Unicorn Crystal to defeat her mad brother, Bruno, his pregnant wife, Eternity Mikaelson, had disappeared in a frightened disorientation. She hadn't known who she was, who he was, or anything about the world around her. Elijah couldn't fault her for running scared. In fact, he had been deeply concerned for her, especially in her delicate condition.
Fortunately, he had his family with him, to aid him in whatever way they could. They each had promised to help him scour New Orleans for Eternity, each thinking she wouldn't go far, figuring she was either low on energy or unaware of her abilities to travel further than another part of the city.
Niklaus and Hayley had headed into the bayou, believing that Eternity might seek refuge in the wilderness since she was a unicorn, while Rebekah, Finn, Sage, and Marcel had taken to the streets of the French Quarter. Freya, Kol, and Davina had chosen to remain at the Mikaelson compound to cast locator spells with their enhanced powers which might aid them in finding her location.
Elijah recalled having decided to personally seek the aid of Eternity's children, Hel and Fenrir, whom lived in Algiers across the river. If anyone could have shed some light on where his wife might go, it would be his step-children.
Deeply concerned themselves, both Hel and Fenrir had performed a little location spell of their own to help him find her. It had been a slightly awkward experience since Elijah had to go to his ex-fiancée's apartment. Fortunately, Gia had been away at that time, so the awkwardness had been minimal, but still palpably present, especially knowing that Hel and the female vampire had begun a courtship of sorts.
Elijah was happy for them, of course. He had hoped his favorite violinist would find the happiness he hadn't been able to provide her. The discomfort had simply come from being a former lover, from having been in a previous relationship with the woman that his step-daughter now fancied.
It had been brief, as his attention had been focused on his worry for his pregnant wife. He needed to find her, to convince Eternity to come home, to trust him. It must have been his vampirism that had driven her to flee, thinking he had kidnapped her for some evil plot. For a moment, Elijah recalled having wished that his lady had been able to turn him into something else, perhaps a more respectable supernatural species than a vampire with her higher order ritual.
"I cannot turn you into something you already are, Elijah," he had sworn he could hear Eternity's teasing words echo in his mind, with that wish. Yet he had known it to be impossible. His bride had been lost and scared, not herself.
Then just as Hel and Fenrir had found their mother's location, his phone had rang with the same news from Freya.
Eternity had run off to the bayou. It was as Niklaus and Hayley had suspected. As a unicorn, being part of the forest was her calling.
After promising to bring their mother back safely, Elijah had raced off to the backwaters of New Orleans, to wolf country, where he had found Hayley already there with Eternity. Meanwhile, the Crescent Wolves stood around them with a certain level of protective determination painted across their faces, especially when he came on the scene. Vampires were not exactly welcome in werewolf territory, but Originals made them particularly unwelcoming hostile.
"It's okay," Hayley had intervened, exercising her place as alpha amongst her people, when they began to take defensive stances and circle him. "Elijah is her husband and has come to take his wife home," she had explained.
The wolves stood down, but they still looked untrusting as they let him through to his bride.
He had gone cautiously toward the two women whom sat together on a fallen tree trunk. Hayley had been attempting to talk to a obviously frightened Eternity, trying to keep her calm, so she didn't go vanishing off somewhere else, perhaps somewhere out of reach. Elijah had approached and slowly crouched down before his trembling wife.
"Sweetheart?" He had whispered gently.
Eternity had jumped at the sound of his voice and shrank back, "Who are you?"
"This is Elijah," Hayley had spoken almost motherly to the frightened immortal, "Don't you remember him from before?"
The ethereal woman blinked a couple of times at Elijah slowly, before recognition took hold. "Yes, I remember you. I remember," she had responded neutrally, touching the spot upon her forehead where her horn would have been if she had been in unicorn form. "I do not know what is happening. Who am I? Why am I here in this strange place? Why am I surrounded by strange people whom claim they are friend or husband, yet have no recollection of either? What has become of me?"
"Come back with me and I can explain," Elijah had replied lovingly, showing upmost patience for his disoriented wife. "I can help you, if you trust me."
Eternity had gazed contemplatively in that perfectly still way he hadn't seen since he had first met her years ago. She had seemed to be searching for something. Perhaps she had been looking for a sign that she could in fact trust him. In the end, she must have found whatever she had been looking for, because she nodded in acceptance of his offer.
He had breathed a sigh of relief when she took his outstretched hand and let him guide her back to the Mikaelson compound with Hayley in tow, where he had proceeded to explain their history to Eternity. He had told her of all their various adventures, their ups and downs, and everything in between that had lead them to where they were - with her lack of memory.
His bride hadn't seemed to believe anything he had to say, but didn't say so nor did she show it beyond the cool disbelief that swirled through her sapphire eyes at his explanation of events. Yet, Elijah had remained ever understanding and patient, knowing that this was simply part of her memory loss. He had known he would have to work on regaining her trust - and her love.
After that initial recap of history, he had promised to protect Eternity, to guide her, and to love her as he always had. Then he had taking her back home to their loft in Algiers.
It had been rough at first, as Eternity had been distant and standoffish, even mockingly cruel or superior sometimes. He had kept his interactions cordial and respectful of her need for space. He had even slept on the couch, while letting her have the bed they had once shared. The distance had killed him slowly, but he had kept faith that his wife would return to him one day and continued to care for her as he always had.
Her shift back into the warm, loving woman Elijah knew had gradually returned over the past two years, but the greatest progress had come when she had given birth to their daughter. The instinctual love of a mother took hold and it seemed to help her warm up to him as her husband completely at last. He supposed he had his daughter to thank for reigniting their romance, despite the fact that Eternity had made little actual progress in remembering her past.
Eternity's cousin, Veren had visited a couple of times, the first time occurring soon after the defeat of Bruno. When he had asked for guidance regarding his wife's amnesia, she had told Elijah that the length of memory loss depended on how much power the queen had used. It could last a few weeks or a hundred years, she had explained to him, and there were a lot of unknowns since all other former keepers of the Unicorn Crystal perished when they had used it just once. Therefore she couldn't say when Eternity would recover exactly.
Then the olive-skinned woman had left quickly after that to begin taking measures to safeguard the Universal Kingdom while it's queen was out of commission...again. Elijah recalled Eternity telling him of another time when she had used the crystal and Veren had to pick up the slack while she recovered.
Even though Eternity's cousin took care of most things, because of Elijah's status as a consort, he had to make final decisions or sign off on certain matters in the Universal Queen's stead. It was difficult, but he knew that he had good council in Veren, Hel, and even Fenrir. Together, they kept the Universal Kingdom from falling apart into chaos.
Elijah's trip down memory lane was interrupted by Ari's grabbing his undivided attention as she was wanting to slide down the little plastic slide, but was too frightened to do so herself. Like the good father he was, he helped her slide down, holding her on the slide as she went joyously.
He grinned at the happy face his daughter made. Nothing warmed his heart like little Ari's innocent happiness. It was such a joy to be a father, something he would never trade for anything else. There was not a thing that made him happier, save for Eternity herself of course.
Elijah's two women were his everything and he swore nothing would ever take them from him, not their enemies or memory loss or death itself.
He would safeguard his treasures - always and forever...
To Be Continued...