When daylight came, I'd gone about my day as usual, figuring that things would at least be peaceful for a while until I got a message from someone I hadn't heard from in months on account of him being daggered and immobile. Elijah. He wanted to see me and gave me a location to come meet him if I was willing, so I quickly sent Rebekah the details before grabbing my stuff together, my sketchbooks and pencils, before hurrying to go meet him.
Elijah had chosen a spot out of the way of the main town, just a little way into the woods but it was easy to find thanks to his instructions, and before long I was able to sense him there already waiting for me. I recognised the clean cut of his suit, the neat crop of his hair with the broad set of his shoulders and back facing me, waiting. I wasn't exactly a quiet, graceful thing so he heard me coming a mile away, tripping slightly over a half hidden rock and when I stumbled, he turned his head and the rest of him then followed, expression relaxing with a warm sense of greeting on his classically handsome and well groomed face. "Ophelia."
"Elijah, you're back." I noted rather stupidly, staring at him for a moment before I couldn't help but grin, crossing the distance between us so that we weren't miles apart. Part of me wanted to hug him, to welcome him back to the land of the living but seeing as I wasn't certain how Elijah would react, I decided to hold it in for now. "It's been a long time, you've missed so much."
"Yes I am aware of a few details, Niklaus was kind enough to give me a summary after we came to an agreement of a ceasefire." He said to me bluntly, making my smile continue to remain plastered to my face as he lightly moved a stray lock of hair aside as it had fallen over my eyes. "My brother mentioned that you had been keeping mostly to yourself, I trust all is well?"
"Nothing major has happened really, at least nothing that I couldn't handle or didn't resolve itself. I've been keeping my distance mostly." Admitting that I hadn't really played an active role in the supernatural happenings of Mystic Falls, I couldn't help but glance Elijah over, wondering if he really was okay since he'd been locked up in a casket for a long while now. "What about you? How come your back? I had a vision that you'd be here but it doesn't seem like Klaus was the one to revive you."
"No, for that part it seems I owe my thanks to Damon Salvatore. It is my intention to reunite my family, and if he so desires to kill my brother and I am not of a mind to stop him. In fact, I will most likely be assisting him if possible. He mentioned something of a fourth casket that has yet to be recovered?" Elijah's eyes searched my face, but I had no idea what he was talking about and it was made evident by my expression. "Forgive me, I should not burden you with the details. I did not ask you here to discuss my brother."
"It's good to see you Elijah. I'm glad you're back." I told him honestly, the both of us standing under the sunlight together in a grassy field, seemingly the two of us being completely alone in the world.
"And I am glad to know you have been keeping yourself safe. I wanted to ask you about my sister, Rebekah. Niklaus informed me that you two had struck a rather close bond with one another, but she has been missing and my brother has been unable to locate her." Grinning knowingly, I took a step back and folded my arms, thinking inwardly that Rebekah had impeccable timing since I could feel her moving towards us at vamp speed.
"Turn around." I suggested, so after sending me a quizzical frown he followed my direction and turned to find his sister standing behind him, her hair blowing lightly in the breeze as she stared at him with winsome orbs. Both simply stood there in shock for a moment, until all at once their love for one another bloomed like sunlight, and I witnessed such a spectacle with quiet reverence.
"Rebekah."
"Elijah." For a while longer they just stood there, staring at one another before all at once, Rebekah rushed into her brother's arms and he hastened to accept her, the bittersweet melancholy ripening with tears as siblings held one another for the first time again in centuries. Unable to help but feel moved, I watched them as they reunited, the feelings of regrets, loss and pain lessening with each passing second they held one another under the sound of Rebekah's tearful gasps, struggling to keep form sobbing. "Lia said that you would wake soon."
"Rebekah, where have you been? When Niklaus informed me that you were missing, I feared…"
"I'm alright, brother. Ophelia has been a dear friend to me. She allowed me into her home and kept me safe and hidden there with her away from Niklaus with her magic. I could not bring myself to face him, not after learning what he did to our mother. Do you know, brother? Do you know what he did?" Solemnly nodding his head, I began to feel like I was intruding in an important brother sister discussion, so I quietly began to slip away, intending to just wait by my car. "Lia? Where are you going?"
"I thought you two probably wanted some privacy, I'll just be…"
"Nonsense, we want you here with us. Don't we brother?" Rebekah said firmly with a look to Elijah, peeling away from his arms in order to stride over to me and take my hand, drawing me back towards them. "You are as much a part of my family as my own brothers now, Lia. You do not have to excuse yourself from us." I couldn't help but laugh lightly, always finding it funny how formally Rebekah talked sometimes since it was so formal and often old fashioned, but I was touched she felt that way about me.
"If what my sister says is true, then it appears I owe you my thanks." Elijah said to me, taking my hand lightly in his grasp to kiss my fingers flatteringly. "You have done my sister a great kindness."
"Not really, I was only looking out for a friend. Besides, I've met your brother and he's a handful. I wouldn't have let Bekah deal with him alone. At least she's now fully integrated into modern society and up to speed with things." I joked with a shrug, brushing off his gratitude as I didn't want it. It's not like I'd made some major contribution or saved her life from the mouth of evil or anything, they didn't have to get all soppy about it. My cheeks were starting to colour with embarrassment.
"What is to be done, brother? We cannot allow Niklaus to continue to hold our lives over our heads, and I refuse to forgive him for killing our mother."
"And we shall not, sister, I promise you. I have come to an agreement with the Salvatore brothers, but I will require your help." He said before they both then looked at me. For a moment I thought they were going to ask for my help to kill there brother, and for the briefest moment, I wondered if I would actually agree because it would be them who asked. Just like with Mattie, if a true friend I trusted asked me for something, it was very rarely that I refused. "There is no need for concern, Ophelia, I will not ask for your involvement in this."
"Really?" Surprised, I blinked at Elijah whilst simultaneously feeling a strong rush of relief. I was glad, which made me guilty at first but then I pushed it aside.
"I know your views on killing, and I will not ask you to taint your artist's hands with my brother's blood. Not after all you have done for Rebekah."
"We can handle Niklaus." Rebekah assured me with a confident lift of her chin. "Even if we cannot kill him, we can still leave him. I have no intention of following him around everywhere he goes anymore. No more running. I will live my life as I see fit, and Niklaus is not going to stand in my way." Feeling proud at how awesome Rebekah sounded, I almost applauded her for her resolve as Elijah agreed.
"Tonight, Niklaus and I will be hosting a dinner to which the Salvatore brothers have been invited with the guise of reaching an agreement for peace terms between us. In that time, we shall free Finn and Kol, and settle our differences with our brother." It sounded so simple, too simple, in fact.
"Won't Klaus see something like that coming?"
"Not at all, he is under the illusion that we will all become a family once again now that our father has been killed. His arrogance and certainty will keep him from suspecting that he is anything but in absolute control." Elijah informed me simply, though I was still a little sceptical. Deciding that she didn't want to talk about Klaus anymore, Rebekah suggested that we took a stroll through the woods and just talk with one another, to which Elijah was more than happy to comply. He politely offered his sister his arm, then offered the same to me so that he had both of us either side of him, hands resting in the crook of his elbow.
Rebekah rather eagerly told Elijah all about her experiences from the moment she first woke up, finding out just how greatly the world had changed since the twenties and how it had taken time to adjust, especially to the clothing since it was more revealing and less conservative to what she was used to. I chimed in every now and then, reminding her of details that she had forgotten like her first day of school and not knowing how water fountains worked, as well as the night at the bonfire where we toasted marshmallows, and other seemingly insignificant details which actually meant a great deal to her. Elijah listened and commented like an invested brother would, paying attention to everything Rebekah said, no matter how long she went on a tirade for.
It showed me how much he cared about her, and even after Rebekah pulled away from Elijah to demonstrate some of the tricks and moves she'd learned from being on the cheerleading squad, he observed with keen interest and attention whilst he continued to walk with me like a chivalrous escort, my hand resting on his arm in a friendly manner. Surprisingly I enjoyed my time spent with the Original siblings more than I thought I would, having become used to only being around Rebekah, and gradually I was reminded of how much I had come to love talking with Elijah in the past. Being mature, collected and deeply knowledgeable, I felt like soaking up every word he spoke whenever we moved our topic of conversation elsewhere onto aspects that interested the both of us.
The way he talked about things was just so fascinating, a realism and sense of wonder I would never be able to find stuck in this town, and it made me all the more eager to get out there and see for myself everything that Elijah had described and discussed. Eventually we had to put pleasanter talks aside in order to plan and prepare for what was going to happen tonight. I requested to be kept out of it, knowing that Klaus would no doubt blame me for keeping Rebekah from him, and I stipulated that family business should be kept within the family. Outsiders had no place intruding in what was a showdown which was long overdue. Still, Rebekah promised to keep me in the loop, so before I left alone, I passed on a warning to both Elijah and Rebekah. "I saw your mom again in a vision, only this time she was dressed in modern clothes and standing in a house I haven't seen before. I don't know what it means, but just be wary okay? Usually these things are pretty accurate."
"But our mother died a thousand years ago. For her to be alive now is…impossible." I gave Elijah a wry smile.
"We're part of a supernatural world. I'm pretty sure nothing is impossible." And I was right. As a few hours later, Rebekah texted me saying that her mother was alive, revived by the Bennett witches according to her, and now she wanted them all to live together as a family and forgave Klaus for his part in her death. For a while I had been unable to figure out what she meant by the Bennett witches, since Bonnie was the only Bennett I knew around until Rebekah clarified that she and Elena had gone searching for her mother, Abby Bennett, in order to break the seal on her mother's coffin. It had been a long day, and all that just messed with my head. Imagine being dead for a thousand years then suddenly waking up again. Totally ready to just go to bed and call it a night, I was stopped on my way up by someone knocking at the door, and before I'd even taken two steps, I knew exactly who it was. "Klaus?" Opening my door, I frowned at him in bewilderment. "What are you doing here?"
"Well here is as good as any, and considering you are perhaps the only person alive on this earth who doesn't want to see me dead, or despise my very existence…" He trailed off, as if he himself didn't exactly know why he'd come here. For a moment I was just stunned, seeing the rather distressed expression on his face, the guilt and confusion tearing away at the inside of his mind.
"So you want a pity party, huh?" That expression quickly flickered into a scowl.
"You're right. I don't know why I came here of all places. I shall leave you to return to whatever it was I interrupted." Starting to turn around, I felt a flash of guilt and inwardly sighed. So the guy was a little messed up in the head, but to be honest, he wasn't the worst guy I've ever met. In fact, he actually seemed a little lost. Like a child forced into the body of an adult and not knowing how to function without literally being held by the hand. His loneliness hurt, physically. Like looking at him and seeing how isolated he felt reminded me of how alone I used to be.
"Wait, wait a second." Recovering from my thoughts, I made Klaus pause, the angry shift of his shoulders as he struggled to feel anything but rage and pain. "Would you like to come inside?" Extending the invitation, Klaus's head quickly snapped around to stare at me as I looked back with calm fortitude. After a moment I lifted my hand to him, offering it to him as a demonstration of trust and faith which was a huge thing for me, because I didn't really trust him. I trusted myself, however. Trusted that I could protect my family from him if necessary, trusted that I knew how to manage Klaus should the worst happen.
Still clearly astonished that I would actually invite him into my home, Klaus moved automatically without even a passing thought through his mind to place his hand in my own. I gave his fingers a little squeeze, reassuring him before drawing him inside and when his first step crossed over the threshold, I heard him audibly take in a breath. I didn't know it then, but in that moment I had secured a foothold into Klaus's life and heart that would gradually become an anchor, the first step to developing a friendship that would change the both of us, but right now, neither of us knew. That initial gesture of trust that I extended, so simple yet grand, gave Niklaus the small hope that he needed that he wasn't so alone in the world as he thought, and as I brought him into my home, I only smiled.