A New Millenium
Synopsis: 31st of December, doesn't expect Klaus' call, but neither can he truly claim to be surprised when it comes.
31st of December, 1999.
Watching from the window of his penthouse how the city down below prepares to celebrate the New Year, Elijah allows himself a few moments of contemplation.
The celebration is a special one this year, for many it will be the start of a new millennium, and for most normal people it will be the first turn of the century they experience. It makes Elijah feel every one of his thousand years, to have people go through the same excitement as towards the end of the 19th century.
On the other hand, he hasn't really properly witnessed a turn of the millennium before. A thousand years ago they had fled the New World and returned to Europe.
As they often do these days—despite his best efforts—his thoughts drift back to his brother. He wonders where Niklaus is now, whether he's watching the celebrations too, somewhere. What with his brother's paranoia resulting in him cutting off all ties and disappearing, Elijah doesn't even know what timezone his brother might currently be in.
Given that Elijah is in New York, there's a good chance Niklaus might have already entered the new millennium.
He gets the call minutes before midnight, from a number he doesn't recognise. He thinks he might know who it is even so. It's not a surprise when he hears Klaus' voice—so familiar even after all these years—but it still comes as a shock to hear his brother breathing his name, so close to his ear.
"Elijah," Klaus says. "Brother, it's been so long."
He always starts like this, those rare times he somehow acquires Elijah's number. Elijah doesn't quite know what it means, that his brother still reaches out to him, doesn't know what to make of the tone of longing in his voice or the echo of it in his own chest.
He shouldn't be talking with Niklaus, knows it would be better to just hang up, but something still compels him speak.
"Niklaus," he answers, coming to stand closer to the window, looking out over the city lights. They'll be preparing the fireworks soon, to light in the new millennium. With the lights turned off in his apartment, the view of the New York skyline is sublime.
"Two thousand," Niklaus muses, something of awe in his voice. "Did you ever imagine we'd be here today?"
Here? Without his family and with a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with a new witch who might have a lead on how to kill his own brother?
No, this is not something Elijah ever imagined.
"We're immortal," he says instead of voicing his thoughts. "We were bound to enter into a new millennium one day."
"Still," Niklaus says. "What with Mikael always chasing us..." He trails off.
Elijah stays silent.
"A thousand years always seemed such a long time. It's strange to think that tonight marks a new millennium already."
"Yes," Elijah says quietly, shutting his eyes. "It is."
It shouldn't matter, really. The calendar they use these days is younger than they are and arguably it's not even the new millennium until next year. Logically, he knows that nothing will change when the clock strikes twelve. It's just another day gone by, and there have been so many before.
And yet somehow tonight makes him feel so very old.
"Where are you, Niklaus?" he finally asks, when his brother doesn't speak up again. He knows it's probably a wasted effort. Klaus has made it clear that he doesn't want to be found.
There is a pause. "You know I cannot tell you that," Niklaus predictably says, but there's something in his tone that Elijah can't read.
Somewhere in the distance, the buzzing of excitement becomes audible, the crowd chanting along as the countdown begins. Four, three, two, one. A muffled roar announces the new year, and in the next moment explosions of light decorate the sky in all the colours of the rainbow.
"Happy New Year, brother," Niklaus' voice says at his ear, clear against the backdrop of distant fireworks.
"Happy New Year," he murmurs.
The fireworks are beautiful, but standing alone in his dark apartment, Elijah feels more removed from the world than ever before. He's struck by a quiet sense of grief, a longing for the sort of companionship they had shared once. For the family he lost, the family Mikael and then Niklaus took from them.
A century ago he had been with Rebekah and Niklaus on this night.
New Year's Eve 1899 had not been a special occasion, what with the new century only starting the subsequent year, and they had celebrated quietly, forgoing the usual society events. They'd toasted to a new year and reminisced about old memories. There had been laughter too, distant as the memory of it feels to Elijah now.
Rebekah and Niklaus had teased him about something or the other, for once presenting a united front as they teamed up against their older brother. He misses them. His siblings, Rebekah, even Kol and Finn.
Even Niklaus.
"Do you remember," Klaus asks, drawing Elijah back to the present, "how Rebekah used to insist we made a toast every year?" He sounds wistful. "Not that you needed much convincing," he adds.
"I have not forgotten," Elijah says sharply. Rebekah is dead, daggered, and at the bottom of the ocean, he remembers that full well. He has no wish to reminisce with his brother.
The silence stretches taut between them.
"I didn't-" Klaus starts, but then cuts himself off.
"You didn't, what?" Elijah asks, when his brother makes no attempt to continue.
Klaus makes a frustrated noise. "Forget it," he says harshly.
Elijah doesn't bother responding to that.
"It's a new era, brother," Klaus says after a moment. "A new order. Mikael hasn't been seen anywhere in years."
"What are you saying?"
Surely his brother can't mean to have him join Klaus again, not after everything he did?
It is quiet for a long moment. Elijah holds the phone at his ear, still hearing the soft rhythm of his brother's breathing. He should be hanging up, but somehow he finds his hand refusing to cooperate.
A sigh in his ear, a rustle as Niklaus shifts, and then a click. The sound is hard in its finality, shattering the moment. Elijah lets out a shuddering breath as he finally lowers his hand.
He takes a moment to gather himself again, to put back together his composure where it had started to crack. It would perhaps have been better not to let his brother know the extent of his anger. Niklaus is more paranoid than ever, he will surely not let Elijah come close enough to strike at him when he does finally find a way to end his brother's life.
But then Niklaus would only be more suspicious if Elijah faked forgiveness now. Even if Niklaus was sincere in wanting him back, there is no guarantee he will not be greeted by a dagger upon his return because his brother changed his mind and thought Elijah a danger.
It's vital that Elijah remembers what Niklaus did, how he was to blame for the siblings now lost at sea. Even if Niklaus sounds as he did before, it doesn't change his past crimes.
There are some sins which are past forgiveness.
When Elijah tucks his phone back into his jacket pocket, he does so slowly and carefully, to hide the trembling of his fingers.
A/N: Happy New Year! This idea randomly popped into my head earlier today, so I thought I would start the year off with some klelijah angst.
Any reviews or comments would be much appreciated!