A/N:
So, how long has it been? Wow, it's been years since the last time I updated this story, and honestly for a while I was pretty sure I'd never get around to it, but inspiration has struck, and so I'm back. At least for now.
Also, I would like you all to keep in mind that I started this story a long time ago, so the ages of some of the characters (Caroline, Bonnie, Elena) won't make much sense in 2021, seeing as in this story they were born in 1994, but please bear with me.
Hope you like this chapter, and eventually I will get to a rewrite of the whole story, but first... enjoy this chapter!
The knowledge that Niklaus was close had them all on edge, particularly seeing as they were staying in a house without a legal owner. Granted, Stefan and Damon's names were on the deed to the house, but seeing as neither of them were actually a living human, Niklaus needed no invitation to enter. Elijah contemplated this as he listened absently to Lexi and Katherine bickering in the next room. The two had never been the best of friends, but they shared a mutual respect and they were both deeply fond of Stefan, and those two things had brought them a tentative, yet antagonistic, friendship.
Right then, they were arguing about how to best handle Caroline. Lexi believed the young werewolf needed sympathy and patience, while Katherine felt that "tough love" was the correct approach. Elijah was inclined to side with Lexi on this topic, even knowing he courted the very real wrath of his wife for siding against her. It was, even so, a consequence he was willing to handle. They were dealing with a young woman who had come to a sudden, and likely terrifying, not to mention heartbreaking realization, that her entire life was not what she thought. She was facing a highly uncertain future, discovering herself at the center of a millennia old spell that connected her to the most powerful creature on the planet, this on top of learning she was a werewolf, the people who raised her were dead, and her biological parents were nowhere to be found. Even Katherine, during the time of her sacrifice, hadn't been as affected as Caroline.
Caroline was a young woman thrown into a raging river, struggling to keep her head above water, and Elijah firmly believed it was their duty to keep her from drowning. At least until he could make Niklaus see reason.
"Elijah?" He turned from his perusal of the woods bordering the Salvatore-property and saw Caroline standing under the arch leading into the main room, she looked understandably tired, and she was clutching his mother's old grimoire to her chest. His eyes dropped to it, and he wondered whether or not his mother ever considered the consequences of her actions. Knowing Esther, it was likely she simply didn't care.
"Do you need something, Caroline?" She hesitated for a minute, her eyes dropped to the book in her arms and he watched her take a deep breath.
"I- do you think we could talk for awhile? About him, I mean. Your brother."
He wondered how much of the grimoire she'd gotten through in the past couple of days, wondered how many of his own thoughts she'd been privvy to. He often wrote about Niklaus and the rest of his family in that old book, particularly during times of dissarray in the family, or during one of his siblings rampages. There had been many, and he was not innocent of perpetrating one, but it was rare he made mortals pay for his anger. Rebekah was, sadly, quite like Niklaus in that manner. He'd had to clean up the result of many of her tantrums before Stefan came along. Kol... well, his youngest living brother had certainly shown homicidal tendencies, but he had never been as bad as Klaus or Rebekah.
"Of course," he answered, returning to the moment and the young woman who had been born Klaus' better half. He gestured for her to take a seat on the couch and walked over to make himself a drink before he joined her.
He could guess at the desired topic of this conversation, it was only natural for her to have questions and he'd been expecting this conversation, but he was not looking forward to it. He loved his brother, and Niklaus, despite all his faults, loved his family above all else, but that love had occasionally turned oppressive.
Elijah had lost count of the number of times Klaus had daggered his siblings in fear of them leaving, or sensing a coming betrayal. Rebekah and Kol had suffered the brunt of it, that was a matter of overprotective big brother tendencies he supposed, but it was their older brother Finn who had been the biggest victim of Klaus tantrum. However, Elijah had known and done nothing, allowing his older brother to remain daggered for nearly eight hundred years. In his defence, the only reason Elijah had not undaggered Finn was because he had a desire to end his own life, and Elijah was incapable of accepting such a final ending.
This, and more, he'd written down in his mother's grimoire, and considering Caroline had spent the past two days reading the book from beginning to end, it was likely she'd read it all. And it was more probable she was left with a less than stellar representation of his brother.
"What do you want to know?"
Caroline opened the book, flipped through the pages in silence, and once she'd reached the right page she pulled out a sheet of paper he recognized instantly as one of Klaus' sketches. The woman was one he recognized, and the image caused a deep aching guilt long since buried to resurface.
"Aurora de Martel," he murmured, taking the sketch from Caroline's slim fingers and examined the skilled strokes of charcoal applied by his brother.
"There was nothing in the book about her, but I... she was important to him, wasn't she? To all of you."
Elijah studied the sketch, carefully considering his response. Yes, in some ways, Aurora had been important to them all. She was the first woman after their transition that Niklaus truly loved, the only woman he had lived during the course of his immortal life. She was the first vampire Rebekah turned, albeit his sister only meant to heal the fractured young woman that Aurora was, and she was the first unforgiveable act that Elijah ever perpetrated on his brother.
"Aurora was the daughter of Count de Martel, younger sister of Tristan de Martel, and one of the first vampires ever turned. It was Rebekah who fed Aurora the blood that turned her, it was I who turned her brother Tristan, but more importantly, Aurora was at one point, the woman Niklaus loved." He didn't enjoy thinking of those days. The very beginning of their immortal existence, a time when none of them knew how to accept what their mother had turned them into.
"What happened?" He glanced over at Caroline at the sound of her softly spoken words, and for the first time in centuries, he admitted his most shameful secret.
"She broke his heart, and it was my doing." Caroline listened intently as he told her the story, of Klaus and Aurora's courtship and affair, their love for one another, and the discovery of how Klaus had killed their mother and blamed it on Michael. He told her of his reaction to the discovery, how he had compelled Aurora to reject his brother, how he'd compelled Aurora, her brother, and their friend Lucien into believing they were the Michaelson's in order to draw Michael's attention, and how his actions had destroyed a part of Klaus' humanity.
Caroline showed no reaction to his confession, no judgement or disgust at his actions, she simply listened closely and gave him her undivided attention. When he was finished sharing his tail of treatury, she gently reclaimed the sketch and studied it closely before her eyes slid his way.
"That couldn't have been easy for you, finding out what he'd done to your mother, discovering the lie about your father."
Her voice was gentle, sympathetic, and he knew in that moment that there was a reason this woman had been destined for his brother. Caroline was smart, beautiful, patient but opinionated. She was brave and stubborn, and remarkably resilient. His brother needed that in a partner, someone who would never accept certain things, but who would show acceptance and understanding for the man, the creature, that he was.
"It was a betrayal that cut deep, but my corresponding actions were unforgiveable. It was one thing to apply that hurt to my brother, but Aurora truly loved Niklaus. I cannot say if theirs were an eternal love, but I robbed them both of a chance of happiness in an uncertain and terrifying world. If I had kept my composure, I could have spared us all centuries of unnecessary pain."
"It's easy to realize that in hindsight, Elijah, but you obviously weren't thinking very clearly at the time. You were going through a lot, grieving the loss of your mother, processing the betrayal of your brother, and learning the extent of that, it had to have felt like you were losing her all over again. I can't say if I'd do the same thing, but I understand how you were driven to it at the time."
"You're a very perceptive young wolf," he pointed out something he'd realized some time ago, and she shook her head and smiled softly, "Just circumstances of life, I guess. I've always felt different, like I didn't quite fit or belong, and it took me twenty years to realize why. My parents lied to me my entire life, Elijah, and I think a part of me always sensed that. Honestly, as crazy as the last week has been, I finally feel like I'm starting to understand who I am. I can't say I'm happy it comes with spells designed by the original witch, me being in the cross-hairs of the Original hybrid, and girls dying because of it, but it's nice feeling like I finally understand more about myself and getting my questions answered."
Yes, he thought, she was indeed very observant.
"It might be hard to believe, but Niklaus has the biggest heart of us all. I've always believed that he's terrified of his own capability of love, and so he makes every effort to rid himself of his humanity so he won't let that become a weakness."
"You're right," Caroline laughed softly, tucked the sketch of Aurora back into the grimoire and closed it, "that's definitely hard to believe." He smiled and was about to reply when he heard footsteps approaching and twisted just in time to see his wife and Lexi walk into the room.
Katherine came immediately to his side, Lexi took a seat in the chair facing them and locked her eyes on Caroline.
"I've been thinking," the nearly four hundred year old vampire declared, and she was clearly addressing Caroline, "I realize this is probably all kinds of crazy to you, but I think maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to give you some training. Teach you a couple things in case you get in a hairy situation without any immediate back-up."
"What kind of training?" Caroline asked cautiously, and Lexi grinned as her eyes flickered briefly to Katherine.
"Call it defense against supernatural creatures if you want. Now, if a witch is out to get you, there's not a whole lot you can do except maybe kill her, though Elijah frowns on that unless it's strictly necessary. But vamps and wolves, now that we can teach you to defend against."
"Maybe I should give Mason a call," Katherine chimed in and Elijah looked at his wife. Katherine's strange alliance with the Lockwood-werewolf was something he did not understand, but his wife went her own way and he'd learned to just give her the freedom to do it.
"Mason Lockwood," Lexi said and Elijah looked at Caroline to see she was doing her best to keep up with the conversation, but they were obviously talking about something she didn't understand, and Lexi was determined to take the woman under her wing apparently, "he's a werewolf-buddy of Katherine. He runs with a pack in Miami, but he's from around here, and I think he has a nephew that activated his curse a while back, they might be able to teach you things about being a werewolf if you're interested."
"At this point, all the help I can get would be appreciated." Caroline muttered, and Elijah could tell she was maintaining a brave face, but she was barely keeping awake and they needed to let her rest.
"Why don't you two make all the necessary arrangements? I'll speak with Sheila to make sure she'll spell the grounds so it's safe for Caroline to venture outside. As for miss Forbes, you need to rest. I'll answer any other questions you may have whenever they occur, but I believe you've had enough for one night."
"Okay," Caroline agreed, yawned and threw them all a tired smile as she rose from her spot and picked up the grimoire to bring it to her room.
"Night guys, and thanks for being honest, Elijah, I appreciate it. And uhm, I look forward to supernatural training." With that, she left the room and Elijah watched her go, contemplating the events moving forward. Teaching Caroline a thing or two about supernaturals was a good idea. She was a werewolf and she'd already shown exceptionally good instincts in "fight or flight" situations, but she had much to learn and Lexi and Katherine would teach her well.
Turning to his wife, he moved his eyes between the two women left in the room.
"Make whatever arrangements necessary, I'll ensure the grounds are safe for when training can begin. Even so, Rebekah or I will be close, and if she's free to do it, I want Sheila Bennett or her granddaughter close. We don't know which witches Klaus may have enlisted, but we can know he has at least one on stand-by."
"You want me to do some digging on that, see if I can sniff them out?" Lexi offered and Elijah shook his head.
"No, keep your priorities on Caroline, I'll deal with that myself."
He would not allow his brother to sabotage the best thing to ever happen to him, even if Klaus did not realize that fact yet.