Elijah sighed as stepped back into the darkness.
"It's good to know that in a world where even our own Mother wants to kill us, some things never change." Kol smiled as he came to Elijah's side, "Like where to find a love-sick vampire."
"What are you doing here?" Elijah asked, furrowing his brow in surprise
"I'm on my way out of town. I came to say goodbye." Kol said, turning to Elijah
"Where will you go?" Elijah asked
"Some place to forget my troubles, preferably someplace with lots of booze and pretty women…"
"Kol…" Elijah chided as he turned to his brother
"I know… I know…" Kol said defensively, placing one hand over his heart and the other in the air in a three finger salute, "I give you my Scout's honor that I will do my best to stay on the wagon and enjoy the treats, but not taste them, because if I do my big brother will hunt me down and read me the riot act—"
"And I will." Elijah insisted with narrowing eyes
"Oh, I believe you," Kol said, lowering his hands with a good natured smile, "I believe that you would subscribe to over a hundred different newspapers just to keep tabs on me. I'm also going to check my jacket pocket later for a possible GPS tracking device."
"What are brothers for?" Elijah cocked an eyebrow
Kol smirked with a nod as Elijah stepped forward
"But, you know that it's not just the humans I'm concerned about, right?" Elijah asked in a low voice
Kol straightened and looked Elijah in the eyes.
"I know…and Thanks," he said
Elijah did sincerely hope that Kol knew that after all this time and after all they had been through, that Elijah would always try to protect and save Kol from himself before all else.
Elijah jerked his head back in the direction of the mansion.
"Did you say goodbye to the siblings?" he asked, stepping back
"No. Niklaus and I, well, you know that that's never been the easiest of relationships and Rebekah—she still hates my guts after what happened at the ball…so I think it's probably best if I just go now and drop a postcard in the mail later."
Elijah nodded in understanding.
"What about you?" Kol asked, looking over to Elena still sitting in her window, "Are you leaving?"
Elijah followed his brother's glance to the window, "Yes."
"Figures." Kol smiled
"Now, what is that supposed to mean?"
"Come on, Elijah. I sensed it on you the moment I awoke in this godforsaken Frank Capra town. This girl has drawn your humanity out of you so far that tonight when you had to change back into 'bad-ass Elijah' to save us, you found that you couldn't live with yourself afterwards."
Elijah stayed silent as he continued to stare at Elena through the glass
Kol looked over to his brother, "Am I right?"
Elijah took a breath and looked down to his hands.
"I don't deserve her, Kol. She shouldn't be with someone like that—with a monster—"
"No," Kol said, shaking his head, trying to meet his brother's gaze, "I'm a monster—you are not a monster, Elijah—"
"How do you know that?" Elijah said looking up, his voice rising, "You've been dead for over a century—you have no idea what I've done!"
"A monster is impulsive—a monster takes pleasure in the destruction he causes—that's me, Elijah, not you! You only ever did what you had to. It's not the same, believe me."
Elijah scoffed as he looked back up to Elena's now empty window as the bedroom light flickered off.
"I always had a choice, Kol…we all did." Elijah lamented, "And more than once, I've chosen wrong."
There was a moment's pause, then Kol shrugged, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Ultimately, it's your decision. But just for the record, I think you are making a mistake."
"Thanks for that" Elijah chuckled
"Hey, what are brothers for, right?" Kol laughed, tightening his grip on Elijah's shoulder, "I speak only the truth…well, the evil truth."
Elijah smiled as he turned and pulled Kol into an embrace
"Jeg vil savne deg…" Elijah said, his face softening
"I'll miss you, too." Kol replied
And when Elijah released him, Kol broke into vampire speed and raced off into the night…
Five minutes later, Elijah walked slowly through the moonlit darkness of Elena's room as he moved to her bedside.
As he approached, he saw Klaus' drawing of Liliya where she had left it lying on the bedside table.
He smiled with reverence as he picked it up and studied it.
"I've waited a hundred years…
But, I'd wait a million more for you…
Nothing prepared me for what the privilege of being yours would do."
Elijah took a breath and closed his eyes.
And she was there standing before him in the forest of their youth.
He reached out for her and touched her olive skin as she stepped closed to him, smiling sweetly as the afternoon sun danced on her dark, wavy hair.
"If I had only felt the warmth within your touch…
If I had only seen how you smile when you blush…
Or how you curl your lip when you concentrate enough…"
First, their foreheads touched, then their noses as he leaned forward and kissed her.
"I would have known what I've was living for all along…
What I've been living for."
Elijah exhaled and opened his eyes. He carefully placed the picture back on the night stand and looked over to Elena asleep on the other side of the bed.
She lay on her left side facing him, her dark hair angelic on the pillow.
He could hear her soft breaths and her steady heart beat as he lay himself down on top of the covers in the empty spot next to her.
He smiled as he turned his head and watched her sleep so peacefully, her face smoothed out and all the worry in it seemingly erased.
"Your love is my turning page…
Where only the sweetest words remain…"
And suddenly he remembered every moment they shared together.
When she opened the door that morning and smiled when she saw him…
Every time she touched his arm in reassurance…
The glance they had shared during the dance at the ball…
The feeling of her lips on his the night of the ritual when he had kissed her in his apartment…
"Every kiss is a cursive line…
Every touch is a redefining phrase."
He absentmindedly reached out and brought the back of his right hand to stroke her right cheek, tracing her jaw line down to her lips.
He concentrated on her face as he slowly moved his fingertips over the dent in her chin below her lower lip, bringing it to rest on the other side of her jaw.
"I surrender who I've been, for who you are…
Nothing makes me stronger than your fragile heart."
His hand then followed the line of her jaw down the side of her neck as his eyes caught sight of Liliya's necklace and his fingertips traced the line of Elena's collarbone before he brought them to rest on the intricately shaped heart charm.
Elijah closed his eyes and a tear ran down his cheek.
When he opened them, he had almost expected Liliya to be lying next to him like she had done so often a thousand years before.
But, he was happy to find Elena there instead, still breathing softly, her eyes dancing under their lids.
"If I had only felt how it feels to be yours,
I would have known what I've been living for all along…
What I've been living for."
Elijah carefully leaned forward, closing the space between them.
He softly brushed the hair out of her face as he moved closer and whispered in her ear.
"Goodbye, sweet girl. Jeg vil elske deg for alltid."
He then kissed the temple on the right side of her forehead, his heart swelling with love and pain all at the same time.
He didn't want to leave her behind—this fragile human girl—but something in his gut told him it was the right thing to do for now.
And so he left as quickly and as quietly as he had come before Elena could stir and wake.
But he was sure, as he left through the front door, that he heard her voice as she awoke groggily upstairs.
"Elijah?"
When Elijah returned to the mansion, it took all of his willpower to not give in to his emotions.
He was so conflicted.
He was standing front parlor, staring out the window into night, when he suddenly felt Rebekah's presence and moment later, she walked through threshold into the room.
"Where the bloody hell is everyone?" she asked haughtily
"It's over Rebekah." Elijah said solemnly, still staring out through the glass
He suddenly felt Rebekah's eyes on him.
"Where's Mother?" she asked worriedly
"We have no Mother," he said, as he turned away from the window to his sister, casually resting a hand on a nearby table, "Only Esther. And Esther was right."
Elijah knew that their Mother—their true Mother died in 1044 A.D. This person had been different. He had sensed it from the beginning. It had been centuries and all of them had changed, but no one more so than their Mother, who had been trapped on the other side, forced to watch her children make havoc of the world. Elijah didn't hold it against her, it would have changed anyone, but he had known before any of his siblings that the Mother they knew when they were children, was no longer. Esther was who they had met tonight—the Original Witch who had cursed them.
"What do you mean?" Rebekah asked, narrowing her eyes
"For all my talk of virtue," Elijah said, stepping forward, his eyes cast down and his voice breaking with emotion as he remembered Esther's words to him that night, "when it suits my needs, I kill, mame and torment. And today I terrorized an innocent—"
"Elena is hardly an innocent!" Rebekah interrupted as Elijah moved in closer to her
"And I used your hatred of her to get what I wanted," he said, his eyes boring into Rebekah's and Rebekah recoiled as she saw the raw guilt and emotion in his eyes, "I wielded you like I would a sword… my sister…"
He looked away ashamed as Rebekah took a breath and stepped forward
"You did it to protect us, Elijah, and rightly so! We deserve to live. We are better than they are."
Elijah turned back to his sister, "Are we?"
Rebekah straightened as she saw the genuine question in Elijah's eyes and Elijah knew that Rebekah knew that he didn't believe that.
"Mother made us vampires," Elijah said, "She didn't make us monsters…we did that to ourselves."
Rebekah looked away for a moment as if processing this as Elijah studied her.
When he found she had nothing to say in return, he knew he had made his point and gave a half hearted smile as he walked out of the room.
When he reached the foyer, he grabbed his coat off of the staircase banister and a rolling suitcase from its spot where it leaned against the wall.
"Wait. You're leaving?"
Elijah turned back and immediately saw Rebekah take in the scene of him with his coat in one hand and his suitcase in the other. Rebekah shook her head as she b-lined straight for him. He barely had time to open his arms before she threw herself into his embrace.
He rested his chin on the crown of her golden hair for a moment and closed his eyes.
"Please don't go. There's still—" She whispered
"I have to, Rebekah…it's complicated," he said, bringing his hand to rest on the back of her hair, stroking her locks, "But, I promise it won't be a hundred years before we see each other again."
Rebekah sniffed as she pulled back to face her older brother
"Take care of him," Elijah said, nodding toward Niklaus' study where he sensed his brother was still holed up, "For me, please. Don't let him doing anything stupid."
Rebekah half smiled, "I'll do my best."
Elijah stroked his sister's cheek, "Goodbye, Bekah."
Rebekah closed her eyes.
"Now I really hate Elena…" she whispered, shaking her head
"No." Elijah said taking his sister's face in his hand, forcing her to meet his eyes, "This isn't just about her. It's about me. I need this Rebekah and I need you to understand that."
Rebekah exhaled, searching her brother eyes before bringing herself under control and nodding
Elijah leaned forward and kissed her cheek.
"Til vi møtes igjen, søster."
He then turned out of Rebekah's embrace and grabbed his things before walking through the front door out to the waiting Lincoln.