A/N: Ugh, so after 38 chapters, we finally have the end of season 2. And of course, season 3 is where things get pretty intense for the Originals, so I plan on having some fun with that. Actually, I had a question for you guys. Would you prefer me to continue updating this story, or start a new one as a sequel?
Warnings: Language. Violence. Sexual Content.
Stormdancer
Chapter 38
As I Lay Dying
Aliyah's jaw was leaning on her upturned palms as she stared at Klaus' grey corpse lying on her bed, his eyes closed as if he were merely sleeping. She leaned forward and touched his sharp cheekbone, cringing when his skin felt waxy and smooth to her touch, cold as if he were really dead.
Had he looked at her like this, when he had daggered her all those centuries ago? Had he touched her skin and mourned the loss of life as she was now? Or had he closed the lid of the coffin and put her away like she hadn't existed at all?
Could she do the same to him now? Could she act as if Niklaus Mikaelson had not lived, as if he hadn't been her everything and she hadn't been his for over a thousand years?
The answer was a resounding 'no'.
Perhaps that made her weaker than him.
Her hand trailed from his face down his collarbone until she was pressing her palm just above where the dagger hilt was sticking out of his body. She wrapped her hand around the hilt.
Would it be so terrible if I pulled it out? she wondered. He lost the war. Elena lives. Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler and Jenna, they live. But he has what he wanted. He has his wolf, the wolf that meant more to him than any of us ever did. Harming us now would serve him no purpose, only to satisfy his rage, although that is a good reason as any for him, she had to admit. But I could protect us from him, as I have always done. I could beg for their lives, if that was what it took. It was easy to reason.
And she would have him.
Perhaps they could even talk things out without it inevitably dissolving into a screaming match as to who committed the most grievous sin against each other.
Something beyond her took control of her hand (although, it was more likely it was simply her subconscious – this was not something she was willing to acknowledge, that Klaus had any hold on her subconscious) and suddenly, she was pulling it out of him, a gold dagger that could now fell a man that couldn't be felled.
She stared at it, slim and lethal in her hand, and shook her head.
No, no. This is foolish. Niklaus never changes. He would kill them all for whatever imaginary wrongdoing he could conjure up and do something horrific to me in the progress for daring to side with them. And why should I beg? Because I am his wife? I don't have to be loyal to him. I don't have to obey him. I am not his inferior. He is the villain here, not me. He should've listened to me. I owe him no apology. I owe him no kindness. He forced my hand.
She shoved it back into his heart, unceremoniously and with rage and resentment colouring her vision, and she stormed out of the room, leaving him lying there on the bed, as he had the entire night.
"Uh," Bonnie shot a nervous look up the stairs. "Do we need to talk about the fact that there's still a dead body on your bed, Aliyah?"
Aliyah grimaced. "Well, technically, he's not dead-dead. Just daggered and out of the way."
"That doesn't make me feel safer, Aliyah," Bonnie retorted. "Especially since Roshni left as soon as you brought Klaus back here. We're down a witch that we really could've used." She said, urgently.
Aliyah shook her head. "Suffice to say, she has issues with Niklaus; she was only ever here as a favour to me, and perhaps the chance to play a part in his downfall," she said, dryly. "Nevertheless, I had no intention of forcing her to remain here, not while he's here. It wouldn't have been fair to her. She has her own life, and she wanted to return to it. But don't worry, I'm sure she'll pop in, now and then. And, in my defence, it's not like I had a warehouse prepared to stash my temporarily-dead husband's corpse." She pointed out.
"How long do we keep him here though?" Bonnie asked, patiently.
"As long as it will take me to figure out what to do next," Aliyah replied, wearily.
Bonnie's eyes swept over Aliyah's hollowed face and she softened, placing a hand on Aliyah's arm and squeezing.
"You okay?" she asked, worriedly.
"I'm… dealing," Aliyah confessed. "It's not easy for me to see him like this. He's never been… helpless. Not since we were children and much more breakable than we are now." She mused.
"But you still think it was the right thing to do?" Bonnie said, cautiously.
Aliyah nodded. "I do. It was hard for me to dagger him, but even I can see the benefit in it. Now, you and Caroline and Tyler are safe. Elena is alive. Nik's curse is broken. It's everything I wanted, to be honest." With the exception of Nik being able to appreciate it himself.
"Do you have any idea when are you going to pull the dagger out?" Bonnie asked, curiously.
Aliyah looked down at her hands – that was a question she had repeated to herself a thousand times over last night.
"I have no clue," she said, honestly.
"Aliyah, you know you can't-" Bonnie began, hesitantly.
"I know, Bonnie!" Aliyah interjected, sharply. "I know I can't pull it out. But… he's not an enemy to me, Bonnie. Not like he is to you. He's my husband," she admitted, as if that explained everything.
"He hurt a lot of people, Aliyah," Bonnie pointed out.
"Yes, but the people that matter to you are alive now, Bonnie," Aliyah shot back, kindly. "Nik's the only one who lost."
"John Gilbert-"
"-died because dying was a better option than his daughter – the daughter he didn't even acknowledge until a few months ago, all the while manipulating her for his own ends – being a vampire. Contrary to popular belief in this town, being a vampire is not some irredeemable sin."
Bonnie's face fell. "You want to pull the dagger out," she said, knowingly, shaking her head in disbelief.
"I never said that," Aliyah said, defensively.
"You didn't have to!" Bonnie retorted. "It's practically written on your face."
"Okay, fine!" Aliyah's hands smacked down on the table. "Yes, maybe I do want to take the dagger out of him. Can you blame me?"
"I thought you understood how dangerous Klaus was!"
"To Elena! And Elena is safe now," Aliyah replied, patiently.
"And if you wake him up and he finds out that Elena is still alive?" Bonnie challenged.
"Why would he go after her now?" Aliyah shrugged, although the certainty of it didn't sit well with her either.
Hybrids, Nik had said. He wanted hybrids. She had always known that was his endgame – siring more like him, a true family, half-vampire and half-werewolf just like him.
Was Elena necessary for that?
"Won't he just be angry that we tried to get rid of him?"
Aliyah pursed her lips. "Of course he will, but Bonnie, I've had a thousand years' experience of talking my husband out of aggression – not that I've always succeeded, but I'm sure I could convince him to leave you all alone. There's no reason for him to remain in Mystic Falls."
"Yeah," Bonnie snorted. "It's not like his wife is here or anything."
"She makes a good point," a voice drawled from the top of the staircase.
Aliyah's heart stopped, momentarily.
No.
"Shit," Bonnie hissed, grabbing Aliyah's arm in a death grip. "How did he wake up?"
"Well, it would appear someone was kind enough to pull the dagger out," Klaus explained, all-smug. "Granted, they put it back in me once their momentary guilt faded, but they forgot to re-apply the white-oak ash again."
Aliyah closed her eyes. Fuck.
"Shall we take a guess as to whom the benevolent party was?" Klaus' gaze turned in Aliyah's direction and she knew he knew whom was to blame.
Bonnie, calculating along similar lines, looked at Aliyah with such betrayal that it physically hurt her to see that dissonance in her niece's eyes.
"Aliyah?"
Aliyah flinched. "I swear, I never intended for him to wake up. I don't even know what I was doing; it was as if something else was controlling me. One moment, I was staring at the dagger and in the next, it was in my hand, and then, of course, I realised how monumentally foolish I was being, thinking he could change." She sent her husband a withering look. "And I promise you, Bonnie, on everything I hold dear, I put it back in him because I thought he didn't deserve to be awake. I… I forgot about the white-oak ash and I am so sorry."
Klaus strode down the stairs, shirt wrinkled and bloody, but he prowled like a cat, unlike the wolf he now was.
"This is all very maudlin, of course, and I can even appreciate that this is a necessary conversation between the two of you, but I think we have bigger things to discuss right now, wouldn't you say?" he said, smoothly, fixing the cuffs of his shirt. "Now, why don't one of you explain to me how she is still alive?" He gestured at Bonnie. "Because I could've sworn I killed you in that cafeteria."
"It was a trick," Aliyah replied, dully. "So you would think you'd killed her and you'd stop hunting her."
"And in the meantime, she'd work out a way to put me down, which is where you got the dagger, I assume," Klaus finished. "Is there no end to your treachery, my love?" he shook his head.
Aliyah didn't buy his melancholy for a moment.
"Leave her alone," Bonnie snapped, moving to cover Aliyah like a shield, her arms outstretched.
Aliyah slid a hand across Bonnie's shoulder, and pushed the girl back, so that Aliyah was in front of her now – she would take no chances with Bonnie's safety.
"That will never happen; I told you as such in that cafeteria," Klaus said, sharply. "Now, what to do with the two of you?" his lip curled, coldly.
"Leave us be, Nik," Aliyah said, firmly. "You got what you wanted. The sacrifice is over; your precious doppelgänger is dead; you're a hybrid now. Neither of us are a threat to you anymore."
"I beg to differ." Klaus shrugged. "I think that night proved you are always a threat to me, Liya. Even when you're pretending to be on my side."
"Do you want an apology, Nik?" Aliyah asked, wearily. "I can give you one if it'll make you feel better, but we both know I wouldn't mean it and you wouldn't believe me anyway."
Klaus waved that off. "Yes, you've always been so unabashedly unapologetic about all of your actions. I can't imagine that's changed in eighty-five years. But that doesn't mean I can just let you both pass, not after everything you did."
"You act as if we committed some grave offence." Aliyah raised an eyebrow. "All she did was fake her death."
"And used the sham to create a weapon that would fell me," Klaus growled. "Hardly something innocent."
"It was my idea," Aliyah said, fiercely. "All mine. All of it. It was mine. You want someone to blame, blame me."
"Oh, but I do blame you, Aliyah," Klaus said, gently, stalking towards her.
Aliyah tensed but before he could come close, there was that sickening sound of bones shattering and Klaus groaned, falling to his knees abruptly. That same cracking sound continued and Aliyah watched, eyes wide, as his bone contorted underneath his skin.
"Hel, he's going through the transformation," she whispered. "The dagger must have just paused it." She rounded on Bonnie. "You need to leave, get as far away from here as you possibly can."
Bonnie shook her head. "What about you?" she demanded.
"I won't leave him," Aliyah said, firmly. "He's too dangerous on his own. At least with me nearby, I might be able to head him off."
"I can't just leave you alone with him. What if he hurts you?" Bonnie retorted.
Aliyah growled in frustration. "Look, we don't have time to argue about this, Bonnie. You need to leave, now."
"Aliyah-"
The low, feral growl that Klaus made had Aliyah turning, seeing her husband for the first time in a thousand years with golden eyes and fangs too sharp to belong to a vampire.
"Bonnie, run!" Aliyah snapped.
Bonnie took one last glance at a still-shifting Klaus and nodded, weakly, turning on her feet and running for the front door. Aliyah rounded on her husband.
"We need to get you out of here," she mused.
Klaus growled at her once more.
"Oh, don't start with me. I just built this house, I'll have you know. I'm not going to let you race around here and destroy the place." She snapped.
His hands were paws now, his mane a thick charcoal-grey. He padded towards her, silently, and Aliyah reared back, wondering whether she should run – his fangs could rip through her like soft meat, but his bite would only make her feverish for a short while. But he didn't seem aggressive, unlike the other werewolves she had seen. He hadn't lunged for once he realised that she was a vampire. Instead, he simply nudged at her knees. Her hand hovered in the air, hesitating, before smoothed a line down from his skull to the middle of his back.
Klaus growled, leaning into her touch. Everything was disjointed, but he knew whom she was. He knew lust and hunger and Aliyah. He knew she smelled like roses and sandalwood. He knew that his blood was in her, somewhere indelible; there was a story behind that, but he couldn't quite place what it was. But he knew her. She was Aliyah. His hellcat. Fierce little stormdancer that she was – she didn't cringe from him the way someone weaker would have. He wanted to voice pride and love and need, but he was unable to render it. Words didn't form on his tongue the way he could have in his other body. He was more wolf than vampire or man at the moment.
Aliyah knelt, slowly – he didn't seem to be attacking her yet, but she didn't want to take any chances.
She pressed a hand against the side of his neck, feeling his warmth. He was large, larger than any wolf she had ever seen. If he stood on his hind legs, she imagined he'd be taller than she was. He already came up to her ribs on four legs.
"I think I like you better this way," she teased, quietly. "You can't talk."
Klaus snapped at her fingers like an admonishment, not quite piercing the skin, but it made her scowl nonetheless.
"Don't bite," she chided. "If you do, then I'll be sick as a dog for at least a few days." She paused. "Actually, that might work in your favour. Then I won't be able to fend you off when you come after Bonnie."
Klaus growled as if he were in agreement with her plan.
She gave him a stern look. "But you also know that once venom has left my body, I would spend the rest of our existences causing you unimaginable hell for daring to lay a hand on my niece." She pursed her lips. "You didn't listen the last time I gave you that threat; I'm hoping you are content enough with your new strength that you'd be persuaded to show a little leniency."
Klaus gave her such a withering look that it made her laugh.
"Yes, I know, leniency is not really your thing," she mused. "But you won, Nik. We lost. The Gilbert girl is dead, and your wolf side is yours again. Who could challenge you now?" she asked, bitterly. "What could harming Bonnie do but prove that you're the big gun? Of course, that's always been an adequate motive for you." She shook her head and huffed. "What am I trying to do here, curb your impulses? You never thought I was worth listening to before; why would you think I was worthy now?" She slid to her feet. "There's a forest out there. You should go."
Klaus nudged at her knees once more, but she took a step back, her face like steel.
"Go," she said, firmly. "And try not to destroy anything on your way out."
"You undaggered him?" Elijah snapped. "Have you gone mad?"
"It was a momentary lapse in sanity; I didn't even know what I was doing!" Aliyah protested, weakly.
"But you still took the dagger out of him, knowing what he's done, what he could do!"
"Yes," Aliyah reluctantly admitted. "I wish I could take it back, but I can't."
Elijah pinched the bridge of his nose. "Where is he now?"
"In the forest?"
Elijah raised an eyebrow. "He didn't attack you after he shifted?"
Aliyah shook her head. "No, I thought he might. But he was quite docile," she mused.
Elijah snorted. "Docile and Niklaus, two words I never thought would go together." He shook his head.
"You'd be surprised," Aliyah replied, dryly.
Elijah sighed. "I suppose we should go and keep an eye on him."
Aliyah's smile was bitter. "Does our vigil ever end?"
Elijah returned her smile with a withering look of his own. "Perhaps you should've thought of that before you took the dagger out."
Aliyah scowled. "Alright, enough," she snapped. "I understand that you're angry at me; I'm angry at me, but there's no point in you throwing it back in my face intermittently. And exactly what was the plan in the long-term? Keep him daggered and hope we find where he stashed the others? This is Nik we're talking about; if you don't think he had insurance that would prevent us from finding and freeing Kol, Rebekah and Finn, you haven't learned anything in a thousand years." She spat.
"Yes, I suppose it's the same ignorance that compelled you to undagger the man who you ran from for eighty-five years," Elijah retorted.
Aliyah rolled her eyes. "I'm going outside to check on him. Feel free to join me once you've left your attitude at the door."
She spun on her feet and stalked out of the house and much to his shame, his eyes were drawn to the lean line of her legs in the black leggings she was wearing. He shook his head, before he allowed those thoughts to overtake his mind, and he followed her, dutifully, skilfully dodging trees and stray branches before they could slice into his suit. He joined her soon after, finding her hovering in a tree, while Klaus, in his wolf form, prowled across the forest floor.
He wasn't so complacent to think that Klaus' compliancy, especially in this form, would extend to him, so he carefully made his way over to the opposite tree, watching in interest as Klaus padded along, not before giving him one hell of a threatening look once he had spotted him lurking in the tree line.
Finally, Aliyah simply tired of prowling around and waiting for Klaus to turn back into his human form (Gods knew how long that would take – as she remembered, when he had first triggered his wolf gene, it had taken him days before he shifted back into human form), and she jumped down from the trees, somewhat confident that he would not attack her. Elijah took longer, but she finally managed to convince him to land on the forest floor as well. He shot Klaus, who bared his sharp teeth at his brother, a wary look and Klaus began to advance on him.
Aliyah spun on her heel and glared at him, viciously. "You, hush. This is all because of you. You're lucky that I'm not kicking your teeth in after everything that you've done," she snarled. The wolf looked at her with wide and innocent eyes. "Don't you dare give me that puppy dog look. You just wait until you shift back, Niklaus; this changes nothing." She hissed.
Klaus huffed and shuffled off in the opposite direction, deeper into the woods.
Elijah shook his head, staring at the two of them. "I still don't understand why he's not attacking you."
"I came up with two theories," Aliyah said, dryly. "One, his blood is in my system and it's possible he can recognise that." Elijah grimaced but thankfully, kept his mouth shut. "And when he first turned, after he took his first life-"
"You followed him," Elijah finished for her, soberly. "You stayed with him, in the trees, until he came back to himself."
Aliyah shrugged. "I couldn't leave him alone."
"He never went for you then, either," Elijah mused. "I suppose that answers that question." He said, slowly, ignoring the way that the grief left him somehow hollowed anew – it was not anything he didn't know already, perhaps just something he hadn't been willing to accept, not deep inside.
"One more thing," Aliyah hesitated, visibly, as if she very much wanted to keep this to herself but knew in the long run it was better if it was told. "Werewolves never attack their own." She admitted and immediately looked away.
"But you're not-" Realisation dawned and Elijah hardened. "Oh."
"I'm sorry," Aliyah felt duty-bound to say.
"It's fine," Elijah said, lowly. No, it isn't. Wasn't there one thing that you could've left for me? "At least we know."
"We'll never know," Aliyah disagreed. "Not in truth."
"We should change the subject," Elijah said, suddenly.
Aliyah sighed in relief (was there anything more awkward than standing in the middle of the forest, with her current husband a wolf, her ex-husband a self-appointed guard, all the while confessing the potential paternity of a child that had died over a thousand years ago?).
"Yes, please, let's change the subject," she said, quickly. "Shall we talk about how you were going to kill Nik last night, even though I told you not to?"
Elijah sighed. "Are you sure you want to?"
Aliyah crossed her arms over her chest, defiantly. "Yes."
"What do you want me to say, Aliyah? That I was going to kill Niklaus? Yes, I was."
"I just-I don't understand why," Aliyah said, wearily. "I told you that he didn't bury your brothers and sister at sea. He's vindictive but he'd never do anything that would make it impossible for him to undagger them at some point. He always had every intention of undaggering them at some point." She took a deep breath. "We could've looked for them, after he was down. I don't understand why you had to kill him to find the others."
"He would never have told us where they were," Elijah pointed out, but he avoided her gaze nonetheless.
"We could've found them ourselves," Aliyah said, sharply. "Bonnie or Roshni or another witch that we trusted could've searched for them." She paused. "I just… would you have been able to live with yourself?" she challenged. "You kill Nik, fine, but in a hundred years' time, two hundred even, when Finn and Kol and Rebekah are alive and thriving, wouldn't you regret irrevocably removing him from our lives?"
Elijah flinched, visibly. "I would've… moved on eventually."
"I think you're lying," Aliyah said, boldly. "In a thousand years, no matter what he's done, you haven't walked away. No one would've blamed you after everything. But it took you, until now, to come to a decision to kill him. I don't think you could've moved on at all." She said, mournfully.
"So, then I should just accept what he's done to us, to my brothers and sister? I should forget that he puts us in boxes when he tires of us, or when we offend him too greatly, and locks us away like we are nothing more than his playthings?" Elijah spat.
"I never said it isn't terrible what he does. It is terrible what he did to them," Aliyah said, fiercely. "I'm not defending him, but they're still alive, Elijah. We can find them and wake them up one day. They'll still live another thousand lifetimes. It wouldn't be the same as opening up a coffin and pulling a dagger out. We'd never get a second chance with him. That… would be it. He'd just be dead. Dead-dead. Could you truly live with that?"
Elijah wasn't willing to give in just yet. He tipped his chin up, defiantly. "Yes," he replied, coldly.
"Again, I don't believe you," Aliyah said, witheringly. "I fear…" she took a deep breath and looked away. "I fear the two of you are doomed to walk our road together until the three winters come."
Elijah's resulting smile was bitter. "With you in the middle?"
Aliyah's face didn't betray the reaction he was hoping for. Instead, she cocked her head.
"Was that why you decided to do it?" she asked, curiously. "For want of me?"
Elijah scoffed. "That is dangerously arrogant of you to assume."
"You haven't given me another reason," Aliyah retorted.
"And if I were to say 'yes'?" Elijah challenged. "What would you say?"
"I would ask: why now?" Aliyah said, plainly. "Why, after a thousand years? You had every chance to kill him, or declare your intentions of wanting him dead, when it all happened. Why now?" She demanded.
"Because I'm a fool!" Elijah barked. "There, is that what you wanted to hear?"
Aliyah remained silent.
Elijah sighed and then did something she was not expecting at all. He went over to a nearby tree and sat down in front of the trunk, uncaring of whether his suit was dirtied in the process.
He looked at up at her, and at that moment, she felt their ages, both of theirs.
Sometimes, she wondered if they had lived too long.
Sometimes, she wondered if it would have better if they had died as they had been, in this very town, all those centuries ago.
It would have been a better end.
"I meant what I said," he admitted. "I did it for Finn and Rebekah and Kol. I did it because I thought I had no other option. I did it because we – yes, I mean both of us – let Klaus run wild and he needed to be stopped, and you know he needed to be stopped. I did it because he hurt us, he hurt you and for some reason, that was alright in our eyes. I did it because I was angry. I did it because I was bitter. And yes, I did it because, in my crooked mind, I thought that if I killed Niklaus now, perhaps in a century or two, you would forgive me enough to… return to me, I suppose."
Something caved in Aliyah's chest and she exhaled.
But when he looked at her, then, he looked miserably resigned.
"But that would never have worked. You meant what you said that day. Had I gone through with my plan, had Niklaus fallen last night, you would not have forgiven me. I don't believe anything would have saved me from your wrath had I made you a widow last night," he mused.
You're right.
She doesn't say the words aloud.
"A thousand years ago, when I found you two together, you held my hands and you knelt in front of me and you asked me to forgive you for being in love with my brother – my favourite brother. You told me that you'd never look at him again if I didn't want you to. You told me that you'd endure me beating you if that would make me feel better. And you meant it, Aliyah. You did. And it was then that I realised how much you loved him. How much you wanted him. The two of you hadn't just made some mistake, out of comfort or grief or lust. You were in love. You loved him more than me. When you promised to forget him if I asked, I considered it for a moment. I thought, what harm could it do? Anything they've built together in twenty years, we could eclipse in an eternity. She would love me as she loved him, eventually. But if I had forgiven you and you had given him up and we had stayed together, you would've smiled and pretended to be happy and perhaps, yes, we would have content with our lives one day, but you loved him, Aliyah. You loved him best and you will always love him best. And I know you felt something for me as well. Perhaps, you still feel something for me, I don't know. But had I killed Niklaus last night, anything you still felt for me – be it romantic or familial – I would've killed that as well and that is something I cannot bear. Not only would I have had to live with murdering my own brother, but I would've made the woman I love most in the world hate me."
Aliyah didn't allow herself to breathe, but she strode forwards and sat beside him on the ground.
"You love me still?"
She didn't know what she would do with the answer, but she needed to know what it was.
"Yes," Elijah confessed, miserably. "I wish I didn't. And I know you wish I didn't. But I still do."
"But Katerina-"
Elijah took a deep breath and leaned in, kissing her chastely on the mouth. There was nothing to it, no passion, no lust, just warmth and a memory. But Aliyah was cold inside – she couldn't bring herself to feel anything, let alone kiss him back. It was over as quick as it happened.
"You shouldn't have done that," Aliyah chided, helplessly. "If Nik finds out-"
"I think after a thousand years of dealing with him, you are owed this," Elijah said, dryly.
"He's my husband," Aliyah whispered. "I promised to be faithful."
"That was me. Not you," Elijah said, pointedly. "You didn't even seem to want it. Feel free to blame it on me." He sighed. "I apologise. You're right. I shouldn't have done that. It was not… honourable of me. You're still my brother's wife." He looked up at the sky and watched as birds darted from tree to tree. "But that was it, I promise you. There will be nothing more between us. A thousand years is long enough, I think. It's time we end this miserable rhythm."
"So, I'm just Aliyah, your brother's wife, and you're just Elijah, my husband's brother?" Aliyah said, sceptically.
"I'd like it if we were friends, at the very least." Elijah shrugged, a remarkably casual for someone who held himself so tense, as if the world was on his shoulders. "We were friends once, before they married us. You are my oldest and greatest friend, Aliyah."
Aliyah shook with laughter then. "I've become a Petrova doppelgänger, it seems," she said, wryly.
Elijah rolled his eyes. "There is no love triangle here, Aliyah," he said, sharply. "You are no manipulative seductress, and Niklaus and I are not your victims. We are different."
"How?" Aliyah demanded. "I'm still the girl who strung along two brothers. How am I possibly different to Tatia, or Katerina or even Elena?"
"Because I didn't fight for you!" Elijah snapped, lunging to his feet and looming over her. "I don't want to fight for you, Aliyah. And you don't want me to fight for you. We are stuck in this situation, not because we asked for it, not because we want it, but because we have no other choice. Other people made our decisions for us. If either of us had a choice then, you would never have married me and I would never have married you. We both know that. But we did, and we made the best of what we had at the time. There is no sin in that. We owe no explanations. They have no right to judge us." He lowered his voice. "You love Niklaus more than you ever have or ever could love me, Aliyah. I made my peace with that a long time ago. I do love you, I can't deny that. But you don't feel the same way about me. You don't love me, at least, not as you used to."
Aliyah could see it physically hurt him to say the words out loud.
"I think you feel guilty."
Aliyah flinched.
"You regret how it ended all those years ago, and you've used that as a reason to hold onto me for all these years, and like a lovesick fool, I allowed you to, because it pleased me to be by your side, in any way that you wanted me. That is on both of us, not just you. And yes, it was not the most… respectful way it could have ended," Elijah hedged. "But that was how it happened. None of us can change it. But you don't owe me anything, Aliyah. And you don't owe Niklaus anything, despite what he may imply. This is just our lives. I think we've spent enough time feeling guilty, don't you?"
Aliyah looked up at him, her face drawn. "So, basically, it is what it is?" she mused.
"Yes, I suppose," Elijah drawled. He held out a hand to her. "Perhaps we can make a better go of it now." He offered.
Aliyah smiled, sadly. "I don't want to be guilty anymore," she confessed. She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. "I want us to be family again, properly and for the right reasons. I don't want my guilt or the fact that your parents and my mother forced us into something unpleasant and awkward all those years ago to ruin what we had between us, before we married. You're my oldest and greatest friend too, Elijah. You've always been there for me, even when you didn't need to be," she said, wistfully.
Elijah sighed. "As do I. Perhaps that's a good place to start."
Four days later, Klaus finally came back to himself. He awoke with a start, in the middle of the woods, naked to the bone and huddled in piles of leaves. His eyes trailed upwards, meeting the blinding heat of the sun, and he smiled, satisfied. He winced when he was hit abruptly with thick fabric, and he turned his head, seeing Aliyah and Elijah standing there, rigid like stone.
He bit down the knee-jerk anger at seeing them together.
"You've been busy," Elijah drawled.
"That was amazing," Klaus said, roughly, running his tongue over his teeth. "How long has it been?" he asked, curiously.
"Four days since you turned in the middle of my house," Aliyah replied, her voice clipped.
"Ah," Klaus hummed. "Yes, after you daggered me." His eyes narrowed.
"Let it go, Nik," Aliyah said, thinly.
Klaus ignored her. "I can change at will, then," he mused. "It's good to know. I remember every single kill." He said, proudly.
Elijah rolled his eyes. "Yes, we've been cleaning up your little mess along the way."
Klaus grinned, slyly. "Just like old times, brother."
Aliyah rolled her eyes. "If we're done with the nostalgia, I have a question."
Klaus waved in her direction as he slipped on the Henley. "Yes?"
"Where are they, Nik?" she asked, lowly.
"Who, Liya?" Klaus asked, innocently.
Aliyah advanced. "Don't play with me; where are Kol, Rebekah and Finn?"
Klaus levelled a look at her, his face betraying nothing. "I buried them at sea."
Aliyah's lip curled. "I know you didn't; where are they?" she demanded.
Klaus' cornflower-blue eyes, bloodshot from his nights spent as a wolf, turned in Elijah's direction. "Is that why you were going to kill me? Because you thought I'd thrown their bodies in the ocean?"
"I could have, but I didn't," Elijah reminded him, helping Klaus shrug on his jacket.
Klaus scoffed. "Only because Aliyah got there before you," he sighed. "Although I suppose it doesn't matter in the long run. Now, no one can. Not even you."
Aliyah leaned in and let him see the challenge in her eyes. "I still have that dagger; you want to bet that still works?"
Klaus' eyes narrowed. "I think you've proven your lack of resolve when it comes to that dagger already, don't you think?" he retorted.
Aliyah scowled. "I won't make the same mistake twice."
Klaus rolled his eyes. "As you will, hellcat."
Aliyah gritted her teeth. "You didn't answer my question: where are they?"
Klaus groaned. "You need to lighten up. I'll bring you to them soon enough."
Caroline was striding through the town square where they were showing Gone With the Wind on a big screen. People had already arrived with blankets and picnic baskets and there were even some girls who had dressed up for it. Finally, Caroline spotted Jeremy and Elena unfolding a blanket and Elena kneeling on it, and she joined them, dropping her own picnic baskets in the middle of the blanket.
"Hey!" she said, cheerfully. "There you guys are. Who's hungry?"
Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Are we really doing this?"
Caroline sighed, frustrated. "Yes, we are really doing this. We are going to take a page from Scarlett. We made it through the war."
With no casualties, she thought, dryly. Even she had been surprised at that. Well, except for Jules – but no love lost there – and the vampire Aliyah had turned for the sacrifice.
"Listen, I know last night was… bad, and my mom knows I am a vampire, so basically it's like Atlanta has burned. And yet, in spite of everything, we persevere," she said, grandly.
Jeremy grimaced, but resigned himself. "All right," he said, long-sufferingly, and sat down with them. "What are we eating?"
Caroline rubbed her hands together. "Something good."
"I didn't think you'd help me," Stefan said, casually.
"Believe me, I wasn't going to," Bonnie replied, flatly. "But Tyler convinced me it would be pretty useful if we knew what the cure to a werewolf bite was, in case any accidents happen." She took a deep breath. "But fair warning, I'm not sure this is going to work."
"You've done a séance before, right? Contacted Emily Bennett. Maybe one of the witches might know how to help Damon," Stefan said, urgently.
"They might not want to," Bonnie retorted. "Remember, witches don't like vampires."
Stefan couldn't say much to that, so Bonnie rolled her eyes and waved her hand, sharply. The candles in the room started burning brightly and Bonnie flinched as the voices started whispering around them.
Stefan immediately became concerned. "Bonnie? Bonnie?"
Bonnie's eyes snapped open. "Emily," she said, hoarsely, in a voice that was not her own. "Why have you come here, Stefan?"
"I need your help," Stefan said, quickly. "I need to know if there's a spell that can heal a werewolf bite."
"No," Emily said, firmly. "Nature ensures a balance to everything."
Stefan's eyes narrowed. "Is that true... or are you just saying no because it's Damon?" he challenged.
Emily raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps it is his time to die."
"No," Stefan shook his head. "That's not balance. That's punishment."
"I will not give you what you want," Emily warned.
"So you're saying that there's an answer to give?" Stefan retorted. "Please, if you know something, just tell me. Help me save my brother," he wasn't above begging.
Bonnie returned then, choking, and she clutched at her ears, screaming in pain and her knees buckling.
"Bonnie," Stefan exclaimed and knelt beside her.
Bonnie looked at him with bloodshot, pained eyes. "They don't want us here. They think I'm abusing their power."
"They know something. There's an answer. They just don't want to tell me," Stefan said, urgently.
Bonnie panted. "I heard them say a name," she wheezed.
"What was it?"
"Klaus."
"But Klaus is daggered; we can't free him," Stefan said, pointedly.
Bonnie grimaced. "Yeah, see, about that-"
Klaus, Aliyah and Elijah strode through the door of Alaric's apartment. Katherine was still there, pressing a tense Stefan Salvatore against the wall by the neck. Something in her shoulders simultaneously tensed and loosened when she heard the sound of the Originals returning.
"Klaus, you're back. Look who decided to come for a visit," Katherine said, casually, releasing Stefan from her hold.
Klaus narrowed his eyes at Stefan. "You just keep popping up, don't you?"
"I need your help, for my brother," Stefan wheezed, clutching at his neck.
Klaus rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever it is, it's gonna have to wait a tick. You see, I have an obligation to my brother that requires my immediate attention," he drawled, going over to the kitchen to to pour himself a drink. "Liya, darling, do you want one?"
"See if there's any scotch," Aliyah said, casually.
Stefan narrowed his eyes at Aliyah and Elijah. "I see you guys are friends again." Aliyah snorted but didn't quite deny it. "Tell me, were you ever on our side or were you just lying the whole time?"
Aliyah cocked her head. "For someone who wants a favour, you don't sound all that desperate," she retorted. "And freeing him was a mistake, I willingly admit, but we have work to do that, surprisingly, doesn't involve any of you."
Elijah levelled a look at Stefan. "You understand how important family is, or you wouldn't be here. My brother has given me his word that he would reunite me with my own."
"And so I shall," Klaus said, blithely.
When Elijah rounded on him, he felt the cold press of the dagger enter his heart and he looked down to see a familiar, ornate hilt sticking out of his chest. He made a shocked noise, clutching at Klaus' wrist in a vain attempt to stop him.
"Nik!" Aliyah shouted, lunging for him.
Klaus dropped Elijah unceremoniously once his body had greyed over and fended his wife off, gripping her by the shoulders.
"Don't you dare take that dagger out of him, Aliyah," Klaus warned, coldly. "Or I can no longer promise your niece and fledgling's safety."
Aliyah made a furious noise and punched him in the ribs. Klaus took the blow, neatly, and shoved her away, knowing that she wouldn't take the dagger out, not when Bonnie and Caroline could quite possibly suffer for her rebellion. Klaus turned to Stefan, shoving him up against the wall.
"Now, what am I gonna do with you?" he asked, smoothly.
He broke off the leg of a table and abruptly put it through Stefan's abdomen. Stefan groaned and buckled forwards, but Klaus easily held him up.
"Do you feel that?" he leaned in, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "It's scraping against your heart. The slightest little movement and you're dead."
Katherine flinched and stepped forward, a brave attempt for someone who had spent the last five hundred years running away.
"He's just trying to help his brother," she soothed.
"The witches said you had a cure. Make me a deal. Just give me the cure, and I'll do whatever you want," Stefan gritted out.
Klaus rolled his eyes and pulled out the stake, stepping back so that Stefan would fall to the ground. Klaus strode over to the counter, dropping the bloodstained shard of wood down on it, and gave Aliyah her glass of scotch, before pouring himself a shot of blood.
"Trouble is I don't know if you'd be any good to me the way you are now. You are just shy of useless," Klaus mused.
Caroline and Bonnie were with Jeremy, watching Gone With the Wind, after Elena had mysteriously run off somewhere with Stefan, presumably to go and find a cure for Damon, after Bonnie had told the two that Damon had been bitten by Tyler the night before.
Caroline had been hard-pressed not to show her glee and she declared that she had always liked Tyler for some reason.
Jeremy's phone abruptly began to rang during the movie. He answered it, seeing that the call was from Elena.
"Alaric. Hey," Jeremy said, quickly.
"Tell me you're with Elena."
"She went to go see Damon," he told him. "I thought that's where you were?"
"No, he just escaped. I think he's looking for her, and the cops are after him. Listen, he's in bad shape, Jeremy, so if you find her, get her somewhere safe, okay? I'm on my way."
Jeremy hung up the phone and stood, prepared to go off after Elena.
"If Damon is off the rails, there is nothing you can do to stop him," Bonnie warned.
Jeremy scowled. "You know what? I don't think I really care what you think. You left me behind before, and guess what, John still died."
"We left you behind because you weren't needed," Caroline said, dryly.
"Elena's my sister," Jeremy retorted.
"Yeah, and she's fine," Caroline said, pointedly.
"But John isn't," Jeremy said, stubbornly. "So now I'm going to find my sister. You go ahead and you try to stop me."
Jeremy walked away and Bonnie and Caroline were left, dumbfounded.
"I think that boy needs some new friends," Caroline said, suddenly.
Bonnie turned to her. "What do you mean?"
Caroline sighed. "He spends time with no one else but us. I can understand being close to your siblings' friends, especially since he and Elena have such a close age difference, but considering all the crap Elena gets involved in. He's starting to get sucked into everything. It's screwing him up."
"He's been through a lot," Bonnie said, pointedly.
"Yeah, sure." Caroline waved in her direction, emphatically. "But how much of what he's been doing lately is because he's been involving himself?"
"He didn't ask for his parents to be murdered, or Vicki, or that vampire chick, Anna."
"No, but no one asked him to help Damon torture Mason," Caroline said, sharply. "No one needed him the night of the masquerade and we sure as hell didn't need him last night. He needs some space from it all."
"You going to be the one to tell him that?" Bonnie asked, dryly, looking off in the direction that Jeremy had left.
"Where's your better half anyway? What's he think of baby Gilbert hanging around you?" Caroline asked, curiously.
Bonnie sighed. "I'm regretting telling you that now."
"It has to be awkward," Caroline insisted. "He still has a crush on you; Tyler can't like that."
"Okay, we don't actually know he still has a crush on me," Bonnie retorted. "We know that he used to. That could've changed, you know, with everything that's happened since then."
"Oh, I don't know, the way he was talking to you just then… there was some serious unrequited love going there."
"He was almost screaming at me," Bonnie replied, slowly.
"Yeah, he was angry because you don't have feelings for him," Caroline shrugged.
"No, he was angry because his uncle died last night and he thinks he could've stopped it," Bonnie said, pointedly.
"Yeah, but he was also resenting the fact that you didn't choose him," Caroline waved in her direction. "Fucking boys. I'm not blaming him for it; he's only human, but he needs to get new friends. Like pronto." She paused. "You didn't answer my question, you know. Where's Tyler?"
Bonnie groaned and collapsed down onto the blanket. "He's with Matt. They're having the obligatory 'I'm a supernatural being and now you know' conversation."
Caroline grimaced. "Ah."
Bonnie bit her lip. "Has he talked to you at all since…?"
"Nope," Caroline said, frustrated. "But I suppose I can't blame him. There's nothing that says he has to accept what I am now." She said, solemnly, feeling the tell-tale prick of tears in her eyes. "Especially considering how many times I lied to him over the last few months."
Bonnie straightened and took Caroline's hand. "He's not worth it, Caroline," she said, solemnly.
"Logically, I know that," Caroline snorted. "Emotionally, not so much." She sighed. "It seems a waste, you know, to give up so easily. Especially since I tried so hard to keep it from falling apart."
"Yeah, but Caroline, you tried your best and you were in an impossible situation," Bonnie soothed. "If Matt can't see that and if he can't see past what happened to you, that's on him, not you."
"Aliyah told me that I'd be better for it, in the long run, if I ended it. I still held out hope, but…" Caroline trailed off. "Obviously, I was wasting my time. I should've guessed by his first reaction. He was hardly going to take it well the second time after he found out I compelled him to forget the first time."
"So, what are you going to do now?" Bonnie asked, carefully.
Caroline looked up at the screen, looking up at a still of Vivien Leigh.
"I think I'm going to buy that dress," she mused. "Don't you think I'd totally rock that red?"
"Better than Scarlett, sure," Bonnie replied, dryly.
Stefan was still panting on the floor, recovering from the wound in his abdomen which was still healing. Klaus, with his tumbler of blood, crouched to beside them, Aliyah and Katherine watching the two with baited breath.
"I heard about this one vampire, crazy bloke," Klaus began, conspiratorially, waggling his eyebrows. "Always on and off the wagon for decades. When he was off, he was magnificent. In 1917, he went into Monterrey and wiped out an entire migrant village... A true ripper. Sound familiar?" he asked, pointedly.
Aliyah rolled her eyes. Somehow, she doubted that even if Klaus presented a newly-risen Rebekah with her so-called one true love (not even counting the fact that her boyfriend had conveniently been missing all memories of anyone named Mikaelson until Klaus deigned to return them to him, as well as the fact that he had spent the last eight months madly in love with a Petrova doppelgänger, the very double of the girl that had mocked her mercilessly when Rebekah had been softer and more human), she would so easily forgive the brother who put her in a coffin for almost ninety years.
"I haven't been that way in a very long time," Stefan said, sharply.
Klaus sighed, mournfully. "Well, that's the vampire I can make a deal with. That is the kind of talent that I can use when I leave this town."
Stefan managed to stumble to his feet.
"Liya, my love, come here," Klaus beckoned without actually turning to look at her.
Aliyah scowled. "I want no part in ensuring Damon Salvatore's continued existence." She sent Stefan a withering look. "Use her." She nodded her head at Katherine.
"Aliyah," Klaus warned, as if she were an errant child.
Aliyah gritted her teeth and strode over to him. He took her forearm, gently, and his face changed, fangs sharper than any vampire's bared and bright golden eyes. For a brief moment, she was caught up in the beautiful savagery of it all, and she knew he saw it too. It was a sum of all the darkest, shameful parts of him that she couldn't seem to leave behind, and she looked away, immediately, swallowing down that unmistakable heat that left her wanting.
He raised her arm to his mouth and sunk his teeth into the soft flesh of her arm without warning. Aliyah winced and instinctively tried to tug her arm back, which only slid his fangs in deeper. She could feel that slippery poison enter her bloodstream and she gritted her teeth against the sting. When Klaus slid his fangs out, cleanly, there was a red-black angry wound left where he had pierced her skin with his poisonous teeth.
"This better not scar," Aliyah snapped.
Klaus rolled his eyes. He sliced into his own wrist without much delay and red blood, just as red as any of theirs (despite what Mikael had wanted them to think), rose to the surface. He held out his bleeding wrist to her and Aliyah rolled her eyes, seizing the appendage with lean fingers and mouthing at the open wound until she could no longer feel the venom of his bite lingering in her body. When she looked down, the wound he had dealt her had completely healed, leaving smooth, unblemished skin, much to her satisfaction.
Klaus looked at Stefan, deliberately. "You want your cure? There it is," he drawled.
Stefan grimaced. "Your blood is the cure."
Klaus' lips twitched. "Gotta love Mother Nature." He put his hand on Stefan's shoulder, as if they were the best of friends and Stefan hadn't been part of a plot to kill him just days ago. "Now... let's talk, you and I."
Caroline and Bonnie had promptly left the Gone With the Wind showing abruptly once they saw the mass text message Jeremy had sent out, with the news that he had managed to corner Damon in the Grill. Just as they approached the front doors, they heard something that sounded like a gunshot, and they looked at each other, quickening their steps until they rushed into the restaurant.
They saw Liz leaning of a sprawled Jeremy, blood steadily flowing from a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen.
"Jeremy!" Bonnie shouted, running over to him.
Caroline looked at her mother, confused and shocked. "Mom. Mom, what did you do?"
"I was aiming for Damon," Liz said, defensively.
Caroline ran her eyes over Jeremy until she spotted the Gilbert ring on his finger. "He still has his ring," she offered.
Bonnie shook her head. "She's human. The ring won't work on him. Caroline..." she looked up, helplessly.
Caroline nodded. "I got it." She bit into her wrist and fed it to Jeremy, making sure that he actually swallowed some of her blood. "Come on, Jeremy. Just drink. Go on, Jeremy. Drink," she urged.
Liz recoiled. "What are you doing?" she demanded, wondering if she should be intervening and pulling Caroline away from Jeremy.
"I don't think you get a say right now, mum, considering you just shot him," Caroline replied, shortly. She turned her attention back to a still unresponsive Jeremy. "Jeremy, drink. Please. Please. Please."
Jeremy made no motion to drink, the colour quickly leaving his skin and leaving him white. Alaric entered just then and rushed over.
"Bonnie, what's going on?" he asked, worriedly. His eyes widened when he spotted Jeremy. "Oh, my God," he breathed.
Bonnie looked worried before she straightened, suddenly resolute. "I know what I need to do," she said, firmly. She turned to Alaric. "I need you to grab him. Take him with us."
"No, no, no, no," Liz protested. "You can't move him. This is a crime scene."
"Mom, you let them go," Caroline snapped, her voice brooking no argument.
Alaric grabbed Jeremy, bodily, lifting him up into the air. "All right, come here, buddy. I got you. I got you."
Klaus gripped the blade of a knife tightly in his palm, the edge slicing into his skin and drawing blood, which poured steadily into a vial. Stefan and Katherine watched him in interest.
"There it is," Klaus said, grandly, finally putting aside the blade and shaking out his hand until the wound healed. "You want to save your brother? How about a decade-long bender? And I have big plans for you when we leave this town." His eyes flared with purpose.
Stefan shook his head. "I'm not like that anymore."
Klaus made a face. "Well, that's too bad. You would have made a hell of a wingman." He walked over to the sink and began to tip out the contents of the vial.
"Wait," Stefan said, quickly.
Klaus grinned, unseen by the rest of them, and stopped pouring the blood away. "Now that's more like it. I want you to join me for a drink," he offered, but they all knew it was an order.
Klaus tossed him a blood bag along the counter, which Stefan took. He quietly sipped at the tumbler of blood as Stefan opened up the notch at the top and started drinking from it, slowly. He took one small gulp and pulled away, his jawline tense.
"Finish it," Klaus ordered. "All of it. You do everything I say, and I save your brother. That's the deal."
"Nik," Aliyah began, cautiously, stepping forwards. "Maybe-"
Klaus rolled his eyes. "Come, Liya, don't pretend like you care."
Aliyah's shoulders slumped and she returned to her silence.
Stefan continued to drink from the blood bag until it was empty. Just when he thought his ordeal was over, Klaus threw him another one.
"Again."
Stefan took a deep breath and closed his mouth around the notch.
Alaric laid Jeremy's body down on the floor of the old witch house.
"Is this even possible?" Alaric asked, worriedly.
Bonnie shrugged. "There's a spell for it if they'll give me the power to use it."
Bonnie sat down, crossing her legs, in front of Jeremy's prostrate body. She closed her eyes and cast a spell, the candles in the room burning brightly. Initially she cringed, once she heard the voices of the spirits whispering around them.
"Victus Phasmatis Ex Eleto. Revertas Phasmatis Ut Victus. Victus Phasmatis Ex Eleto. Revertas Phasmatis Ut Victus."
Bonnie frowned as the spirits spoke to her.
"No," she murmured, almost surprised.
"What?" Alaric demanded. "What is it?"
"They're angry at me for coming back here," Bonnie said, quietly. "They don't want to help."
"Well, they have to!" Alaric said, furiously.
"They said there'll be consequences," Bonnie warned, almost as if she were only half-listening to Alaric, her attention caught by something else.
"Well, he's just a kid. Tell 'em to shut up!" Alaric snapped.
Bonnie licked her lips and took a deep breath, continuing to cast the spell. The building began to shake, her nose starting to bleed as the power grew inside her, the voices practically screaming in her ear.
"Victus Phasmatis Ex Eleto. Revertas Phasmatis Ut Victus. Victus Phasmatis Ex Eleto. Revertas Phasmatis Ut Victus. Revertas Phasmatis Ut Victus. Victus Phasmatis Ex Eleto. Revertas..."
Bonnie broke off, suddenly. "Emily. Emily! I know you're there. Please help him. He doesn't deserve to die."
This was Elena's brother.
Little Jeremy who used to follow them when they were children.
Little Jeremy who used to play in the sandbox with them, all shy.
Little Jeremy who let them braid his hair during their sleepovers.
He couldn't just die.
She wouldn't let him just die.
The whispering abruptly stopped and the candles went out.
"No!" Bonnie called out, desperately.
She felt tears stinging in her eyes.
Suddenly, Jeremy's eyes snapped open and he took a great, loud gulp of air into his lungs.
"Oh, my god!" Bonnie shouted, recoiling with shock.
Jeremy looked around, bleary eyes focusing on Bonnie. "Bonnie?" his eyes squinted.
Bonnie looked down at the smooth skin through the hole in his shirt where the bullet had struck. "Oh, my God, Jeremy," she breathed.
"What happened?" Jeremy asked, worriedly.
Bonnie shook her head, sighing. "Doesn't matter. You're okay." She patted him on the shoulder and slid to her feet. Her eyes rolled upwards. "Thank you," she whispered.
Caroline hung up her phone and turned to her mother, who was standing silently with her arms crossed, not far away.
"That was Bonnie. Jeremy's alive," she told her.
Liz sighed in relief, blinking back tears. "I thought I killed him."
"You did," Caroline said, gently.
Liz furrowed her brow. "I don't understand."
Caroline took a deep breath. "I explained it to you once. I-I had to make you forget because I was so scared of what you might do. But now..." she bit her lip. "I don't wanna lie. I'm not gonna be afraid of you anymore," she said, determinedly, taking her mother's hands in hers. "I don't want you to be afraid of me anymore. I'm still your little girl." She whispered, wrapping her arms around her mother, who remained stiff and unyielding, not returning the embrace. "It's me. It's me, mom." She urged.
The sheriff's next breath was rough and broken and then, she was clutching at her daughter, desperately, as if she'd never see her again.
There were now four emptied blood bags on the floor, beside Stefan, on the ground himself, who had just finished ripping through the fifth, looking more beast than man. He grunted and looked up at Klaus, who was standing casually nearby, his eyes dark with smug satisfaction.
"You're very cooperative. It's almost as if you're enjoying it," he mused, playfully, throwing another blood bag on the floor next to him.
Stefan shook his head, weakly. "No more." He gritted his teeth. "Not until you give me the cure."
"Not until we make a deal," Klaus warned. "It's your choice, Stefan. You can either remain here living your life in Mystic Falls, or you can embrace what you truly are, leave town with me, and save your brother's life." He offered, gently.
He crouched down and picked up the fallen blood bag, handing it over to Stefan, who snatched it without thinking and began drinking vigorously.
Klaus grinned. "That's the spirit." He took the vial of his blood and turned to Katherine. "Sweetheart..." he grabbed her by the shoulders, compelling her, although he knew that the vervain was now functional within her system. "Take this over to Damon and come right back."
"You want me to leave?" Katherine carefully phrased her question.
"No!" Stefan protested.
"Yes and if I were you..." Katherine snatched the vial from Klaus and rushed out the door. "I'd hurry." He sat down in a chair.
"She was on vervain." Aliyah levelled a curious look at him.
Klaus hummed in agreement.
"And you knew that." Aliyah shook her head. "I don't know why that surprises me."
Klaus winked at her.
"She'll never take it to him," Stefan said, desperately.
Klaus shrugged, indifferently. Damon Salvatore's life meant nothing to him, and him dying of a werewolf bite while attempting to save Caroline Forbes should make Aliyah pleased as a kitten for the nearby future. It may even be easier to wrangle her into joining him with Stefan without having to resort to any unsavoury methods – although, knowing Aliyah, she would deliberately make it difficult.
Stefan looked down, something like hopelessness making him feel cold. "She'll never take it to him," he whispered to himself.
"Go jump in a river," Aliyah declared, storming away from him.
Klaus caught her by the arm before she could flee. "You're coming with us, Liya," he said, firmly.
"Like Hel," Aliyah spat. "Why would I go anywhere with you?" she demanded. "I just spent eighty-five years running away from you. Coming with you now seems just a tad contradictory."
Klaus' jaw tightened; he didn't like being reminded of that fact. "Yes, I remember that with precise detail. In fact, you can begin making up for that by coming with me now."
"You are delusional," Aliyah snapped. "And it's not happening. I have a life here, a home, people to support, friends. You are not taking that away from me just so I can continue spending my life as your maidservant while you find some new foolish endeavour to waste your eternal life on."
Klaus rolled his eyes. "Don't be so melodramatic, my love."
"Oh, so you don't intend to spend the rest of the near future searching out werewolves to turn into your own personal hybrid army?" she challenged.
Klaus grimaced and she knew she had him.
"You forget how well I know you. Well, do it yourself. And now you have your new cannibal pet to keep you company. You have my blessing. Hel, I'll even throw you a goodbye party if it means getting you out of this town," Aliyah spat.
Klaus crossed his arms over his chest. "You hate me that much?"
"No," Aliyah said, firmly, and it was the truth. She felt many things towards him, but hate was not one of them. "But I left you for a reason and I'll be damned if I let you rewrite the single cathartic decision I've made since I became this."
"Things can be different now, hellcat," Klaus soothed.
"Why? Because you're a hybrid now?" Aliyah raised an eyebrow and it was incredulous. "You've always been the most powerful being in the room, Nik. That was never the problem. And I never loved you because you were a vampire or a werewolf or a hybrid. I loved you when we were human and weak and I loved you as everything else beyond that. I love you. Even if by some act of the Gods you were turned back to human tomorrow, I would still love you. It was you who had a problem with that."
Klaus growled in frustration, turning around before rounding on her. "I don't know what you want me to say!"
"I want you to let me go!" Aliyah said, sharply.
"How can I?"
"Did you ever think that if you just let me go, I might come back?" she demanded. "Of my own free will, no conditions, no threats. Just my choice. Because I couldn't bear to live a life without you, because I love you."
Klaus looked at her then. She hadn't seen him so ingenuous in centuries, not since the crippling paranoia and resentment of Mikael's chase had set in.
"I don't trust you to," he replied, slowly, as if it hurt him physically to admit that.
Aliyah smiled, bitterly. "I actually knew that," she mused. "I don't know what I was expecting." She sighed. "Nonetheless, I'm not coming with you."
"Liya, I won't leave Mystic Falls unless you're coming with me," Klaus said, coldly. "I spent eighty-five long, lonely years without you, wife. I'll be damned if I spend a single day like that again. And I know it was the same for you as well."
She could hardly argue that point, but Klaus chewed up vulnerability like he was constantly starving for it – she wouldn't give him vindication.
"Then I guess we're at an impasse," Aliyah retorted, even though she found her ribcage constricting at his words. "Because there is still no way I'm leaving this town. Not until I want to. And just to be clear, I don't want to."
Klaus raised a hand and brushed his knuckles down the line of her cheek. "I'm not quite sure, Liya. Don't you remember? You always have so much to lose."
Aliyah felt that cold foreboding return to her. "Don't," she warned, almost desperately.
How many times would they do the same dance?
Klaus shrugged and stepped away from her. "Aren't you the one who says that I always get what I want?" he raised an eyebrow, mockingly. "You're always so quick to cast me the villain in your story, wife. I'm just playing my part."
"They have nothing to do with this," Aliyah protested, weakly.
"On the contrary, I think they have everything to do with this. Your resolve to stay in this miserable little town is only so strong because they exist. If I removed the problem-"
"I'd put that dagger back in you in a heartbeat," Aliyah promised, coldly.
"You could try," Klaus offered. "You may even succeed. You're fierce like that, my darling. But part of the reason why it worked during the sacrifice was because you caught me unawares. Now, I am very much cognisant of the fact that such a weapon exists and it can put me down. You'd have to be very deliberate with your timing, and would you have the time when I have Bonnie Bennett's heart thumping in my palm?"
Aliyah gritted her teeth. "You wouldn't dare," she hissed.
But she knew he would. She knew he wasn't bluffing. He would kill them if she didn't go with them.
Klaus smiled, cockily. "Try me, hellcat. I dare you."
"I don't understand," Aliyah blurted out, desperately. "Why would you want to win like this? You must know you're just prolonging my wrath. I'll forgive you eventually; I'm stupid and destructive like that, but there's a long time between now and eventually and it'll be you who has to suffer my rage in the meantime. Why not just leave me here? I'd come back to you sooner and we'd both be happier for it."
Klaus shrugged and looked at her, wearily, as if it had hurt him to resort to such threats (she both believed him and mistrusted him).
"I'd rather have you angry and with me than forgiving and away from me. At least you'd be there," he hesitated. "Eighty-five years is truly too long a time to go without seeing you, Liya."
"You can't just… leave!" Bonnie protested, her and Caroline rushing down the stairs after Aliyah.
"I can and I am," Aliyah said, tonelessly.
"Klaus has something on you, doesn't he?" Caroline demanded.
"Nik always has something on me," Aliyah said, wearily. "I always have something to lose." She finished, bitterly.
"It's us, isn't it?" Caroline guessed, quietly. "I'm sorry-"
"Don't be," Aliyah said, sharply, cutting her off. "This isn't your fault."
The idea hadn't even occurred to her, to blame them.
"But if we were stronger-" Caroline protested.
Aliyah wrapped her arms around the blonde girl, holding her tightly.
"You're fine just the way you are," she said, firmly, into Caroline's blonde waves. She cupped Caroline's jaw in her hands. "Listen to me. Neither of you have any fault here, and I do not consider it a burden or a regret to protect you from him, if need be. You shouldn't either."
"Can't you just – I don't know – use the dagger on him?" Bonnie asked, frustrated.
Aliyah shrugged. "I could, but he's right. Part of the reason why it worked, other than the fact that he was already weak from the curse breaking, was because he was unaware that such a weapon existed that could be used on him. Now, he'll be waiting, and I can't take the chance that he hurt the two of you, or Tyler, or Jenna before I could be able to dagger him," she sighed.
"But why do you have to leave?" Bonnie demanded, tears coming to her eyes. "I don't want you to leave!"
Aliyah held her by the shoulders, firmly, pulling her into an embrace as well. "Bonnie, listen to me. Just because I'm going to be away for a little while – and yes, it's only for a little while, like Hel he's stealing me away for good – doesn't mean you can't talk to me or I can't come back every now and then. I have no intention of leaving either of you in the lurch, do you understand? Call me if you need anything, and I'll come. I swear." She looked at both girls, fiercely. "Now, I need you to be brave. Can you do that for me?"
Bonnie and Caroline weakly nodded. Aliyah's answering smile was slightly tremulous at the edges, and she seized them both in another rough hug. She pulled away after a moment, abruptly.
"This isn't the end, I promise. I'm coming back."
With one last look at her girls and a gentle touch to their arms, Aliyah disappeared out of the doorway to her home.
Aliyah gently pressed her fingers to Elijah's smooth, grey cheek, before stepping back and allowing Klaus to peer into his coffin. Two men stood nearby, waiting for them to finish, so they could continue packing away the coffins as if they didn't house real, living people, Aliyah's family.
"I suppose, brother, you've been reunited with our family," Klaus mused. He closed the coffin and looked at the two workers. "Put him with the others. We're leaving town tonight."
The two men nodded and hefted him into the crate along with Rebekah, Kol and Finn. Stefan was standing nearby and just then received a text from Elena, confirming Damon's recovery and concern for his whereabouts.
"So..." Klaus drawled, he and Aliyah approaching him. "Did Katerina make it in time?" he asked, curiously.
"You won't be seeing her again, you know," Stefan said, pointedly.
"Because she's on vervain?" Klaus said, playfully. Stefan's eyes widened and Klaus rolled his eyes. "I've been around a long time, Stefan. I rarely get played for a fool," he warned. "Besides, she won't get far. You'll help me see to that."
Stefan walked up to him, defensiveness ringing in the set of his shoulders. "What is it you really want from me?" he demanded.
"All will be explained in time," Klaus said, vaguely. "Once we leave this tragic little town."
Stefan glared at Aliyah, who hadn't said a word since she had joined them with a suitcase of her own.
"And you're okay with this?" he asked, coldly.
He had been more trusting of her than his brother or Elena had been, but he was beginning to wonder if that had been a mistake. Was she truly here because Klaus had forced her hand, or had she wanted to be here?
Aliyah simply stared at him, unwilling to respond to his anger. She couldn't do much for him anyway.
Klaus played his games and that was that.
Stefan growled in frustration and turned back to Klaus. "Then are we done here? Can we go?" he asked, quickly.
"Not quite," Klaus said, slowly. "You see, I have a gift for you." He turned. "Come here, sweetheart. Don't be afraid." A small, blonde girl walked over from behind a crate, and Klaus looked at Stefan, pointedly. "See, I wanna make sure you honour our deal... that you'll be of use to me." He brushed her hair away from her neck, winking at Aliyah's disapproving look, and bit into her neck, slowly. "I could have compelled her to behave, but a real ripper enjoys the hunt." He said, roughly.
He let the girl go, abruptly, who ran away, screaming. Stefan appeared in front of her, suddenly, catching her by the arms, and he tore into her throat brutally, draining her of her lifeblood until she sagged to the ground, dead.
"Now we can go," Klaus declared.
Aliyah sighed and glared at Klaus. "I'm not cleaning that up," she warned, before flouncing away.
A/N: So, my personal headcanon is that when Klaus daggered Aliyah for the first time, he used to stare at her corpse a lot and debate whether he should take the dagger out – and remember, there's more to that story than just what Aliyah thinks.
Okay, so as for the dagger trick, there is some conflicting canon with that. In Bringing Out the Dead, Klaus takes the dagger out of Kol to dagger Elijah and then puts it back in, and Kol stays daggered. BUT in Girl in New Orleans, Davina takes Elijah's dagger out and then puts it back in, but a few hours later, Elijah wakes up. I think that means that either the writers just forgot their own canon (which they do A LOT, especially in The Originals) or that I think you need to dip the dagger in white oak ash every time. At least, that's what the Wiki says and that seemed like a legitimate way of undaggering Klaus for the events of this episode. So, unfortunately, Aliyah's win was short-lived. And you know, she made a stupid mistake and she tried to correct it, but it didn't work out the way she wanted it to.
Oh, and yeah, the "three winters" references Chapter 51 of Gylfaginning, which is the first part of the Prose Edda, which was an Old Norse work of literature written in the 13th century. Basically, it foretells that the first sign of Ragnarök (the Norse religion's end of the world) will be when three winters come successively, with no interceding summer, called Fimbulwinter. While Aliyah grew up as a witch, I think, like the Mikaelsons, she probably grew up in the Norse religion as well, which is why you know she sometimes mentions Odin or Gods (cause the Norse pantheon is giant) and Hel, with a single 'l', to denote the ruler of Hel in Norse mythology.
And yeah, so Elijah and Aliyah finally had their long, overdue talk. They've laid it all out on the table and they're just going to move on from it. I think they're finally acting like adults, so we should probably leave it at that. Klaus and Aliyah have enough drama between themselves without adding Elijah to it. Granted, Klaus still has an issue with the whole Elijah/Aliyah marriage thing, so this will still be contentious between Klaus and Aliyah, even if Elijah and Aliyah have pretty much sorted stuff out. Besides, like, I know a lot of people give Elena shit for screwing around two brothers, but I would just like to point out that Damon and Stefan chose to let her screw around with them. Like, sure, Elena shares some culpability in it, but seriously, we need to stop blaming women for the choices that men make.
Oh, and just to make this absolutely, perfectly clear, Bonnie does not have feelings for Jeremy. She saved him because Bonnie is, I think, the kind of person who would do that for someone she cared about. She did it because she still sees Jeremy as the kid she grew up, who's just fallen in with the wrong crowd. Bonnie does not have feelings for Jeremy.
Anyway, I think that's all I really wanted to say here. I'd much rather hear what you guys have to think, so hope you guys liked the chapter and don't forget to leave a review!
Reviews:
Nightingale2004: You didn't offend me at all! I'm partial to Klaus' character as well, but I am, of course, biased in Aliyah's favour. Elijah and Aliyah don't actually know where the siblings are located. Look, honestly, the way I see it is that yes, Aliyah does do things to Klaus. Definitely. But the way Klaus attacks is her different? He attacks her as a man, as a husband, as someone more physically powerful than she is. Those things she did to him, she did because he was doing things that went against her moral compass, which I think is valid, because just because they're in love doesn't mean she has to align her moral compass with his. She always had the intention of taking the dagger out, but Klaus really did start it here. He's methodically and consistently done things to her over a thousand years, whereas what she's done to him has really only happened a lot now. I see both sides of the argument, but I still have more empathy for Aliyah than Klaus. You have to admit, in this chapter, Klaus does not treat Aliyah well at all. He has his issues as well. They both do. They're both fucked up as hell and super toxic, but they love each other too.
LadyDV011: Did I surprise you?
NicoleR85: Jenna is the only legitimate Sommers-Gilbert.
Hawk2010: Nope, sorry, not Stefan. Thank you!
Darkest Nightingale: Thank you!
Shiko-Rae: Thank you so much! Damon is dying from the werewolf bite, but Klaus and Stefan subvert that here. The original plan was that they would all leave for NOLA at the end of season 4 and Caroline would kill Damon before they left.
Guest: Thank you!
Arkytior's Song: Thank you!
.Winchester.17: Thank you!
yasminasfeir1: Thank you!
LunaEvanna Longbottom: Thank you! She has; he just doesn't want to believe that. He thinks she's delusional believing in Klaus' good nature unfortunately.
Layla347: Thank you!
Guest: Thank you!
wildman9002: She doesn't, not yet at least.
CrystalVixen93: Thank you!
cruciosirius: Damon will ultimately die. I promise.
hellfire45: If he does, he won't be cheating for a while.
smiling steph: Thank you!
Guest: Unfortunately not. So, Esther would've been in the story. Elijah would've ended with Roshni, the witch who helped make the dagger. Basically, Esther's spell was going to happen as normal, and Aliyah would've been linked as well because she has the Petrova blood in her system as well.
Thenchick: Thank you!