Where Elijah is a good brother to Klaus

Trigger warning for alcohol and abuse

"Why?" Klaus demanded. "Why after all these years, do you stand by me?" All Elijah could do was think back to the past.

Esther rocked her infant son back and forth, she could not bring herself to regret what she had done, as it had lead her to have this beautiful boy. He cooed and reached up a tiny hand to her nose. "Oh, hello there." She said softly. "I'm your mother. I shall always love you." The nursemaid tried to keep a respectful distance from the mother and son as she cleaned up the mess from the floor. "Oh, would you tell Elijah that it's alright to come in?" Esther asked and she nodded, well aware of how eager the son was to meet his new sibling. The second she opened the door and gestured for him to come in, he bounded through the door. "Mommy?" The four year old whispered when he suddenly froze to a stop. He was nervous, she noticed. "Oh, come here my boy. Come meet your brother." At that, he rushed forward to see the newest member of the family.

When the baby locked eyes with his big brother he smiled and cooed. "Hi." The brunette said softly. "I'm your big brother." He reached a hand down and the small fingers instantly clutched around one of his. "I think someone has taking a liking to his brother." Esther teased. "Would you like to hold him?" She asked and chuckled at his eager nod. "Sit down and I'll help you." The mother didn't think she'd ever seen Elijah obey so fast. "Make sure you support his head." She instructed as she slowly set the infant into the toddlers arms.

Her heart warmed at the sight of her sons being so enchanted by each other and once more, she knew she didn't regret a thing. She knew that Elijah was equally as overwhelmed with love and adoration as she was with this bundle of joy. Much more than Finn, even Mikael. She's not sure if she should give him a pass since she isn't the babies father, though he thinks he is. Finn used to be excited for Elijah to arrive, but than they lost Freya and all excitement stopped. He hadn't even shown a lick of happiness when she announced she was pregnant, or that she was going into labor.

Esther was brought out of her head by the sound laughter and saw that her youngest son had was giggling and clutching his tiny hand in and out of fist. "I will always protect you, baby brother." Elijah whispered as he pressed his forehead to his brothers own tiny one. As shall I, she thought. That's when she realized, he'll have inherited the werewolf gene. Then I will make sure he doesn't trigger it.

While the realization was scary, that wasn't her main fear. What if his true father came back and decided to take their son away? She already loved this child so much, and clearly Elijah did too. Not only that, Mikael could strike them all down in his rage. That's just one more reason to protect this baby.

"What's his name, mommy?" Elijah asked. A name... she'd been so frightened for her's and her children's lives that she hadn't thought of a name. "Well, a name is an important thing, it sums up our existence. how do you see him? Strong, bold, a winner?" The four year old thought for a second before his eyes lit up. "A man in the village told me what the name Niklaus means." He exclaimed. "And what does it mean?" She jokingly asked. "Victory of people!"

Victory of people. Yes, he would survive Mikael's wrath, he would be victorious.

"Niklaus it is then. But in order to be a Niklaus, he's going to need some help from his big brother. Can you do that?" Elijah once again nodded eagerly. "Oh you are going to be the best big brother, my son."

And he was. Over the course of the years, Elijah helped him learn to walk, he even was Klaus's first word. Of course he couldn't really talk at that point so it came out ad 'Lidah. Where Mikael left, Elijah stayed.

When Mikael came home drunk, he would take Niklaus out to the woods on "adventures." He tried his very best to preserve his innocence, but there was really no hope with a father like theirs.

When Klaus was one, Elijah worked with one of the seamstress to make a teddy bear as they had no money for toys. That turned out to be his favorite toy.

When Klaus was two, Elijah started to teach him how to speak. He knew his little brother was going to be smart for his age since Elijah wasn't one of the words he taught him, though his father said he most likely picked it up from all the times they've called him. But he didn't believe it for a second.

When Klaus was three, he smashed his hands in berries which mixed into a new color and smeared it on a rock. Mikael sneered about how useless the child would grow up to be while Elijah encouraged it, causing the the toddler to giggle.

When Klaus was four, Elijah taught him to play. Finn said it was trivial to do such a thing, but Elijah insisted on it. He's a child, brother. He would say. He needs to pull his weight. Was the response he would get.

They would play hide and seek in the woods, play tag out in the village.

Over the years, two things never changed.

1) They would press their foreheads together

2) Elijah would hold the back of his head or neck as he would when he was a baby.

Even more important, Elijah taught Klaus how to be a big brother, because when Klaus was four, Kol was born.

"Which one seems like the babies name, Klaus?" Elijah asked as he held Klaus in his arms to read a book of names on the table. Right away Klaus said the name Kol. "Well that means dark, brother." Klaus just laughed and pointed to the baby in the cradle. He'd already used his magic to break a few things. "Alright, Kol it is."

Time seemed to fly yet go so slow over the years of their lives. Klaus and Elijah would look over books for names for their next two siblings. Rebekah. They agreed right away. The name meant captivating. And that their sister was. Henrik. All their siblings agreed on that as it meant ruler of the home and he was the only one Mikael couldn't deny anything too.

Through out it all, Elijah was proven right about Niklaus time and time again. He was smart for his age. He started reading quicker than any of them, and he was a quick learner. He learned to shoot an arrow in three days. Mikael had given up on teaching him right away, and Elijah took over. Despite the necklace weakening his strength, he still was the best fighter out of all six children.

That made him practically impenetrable with Elijah as his big brother, the most strategic and protective out of all of them.

As evidence, Elijah took Klaus out to teach him to hunt deep in the woods, days before his twelfth birthday so they wouldn't be caught and he wouldn't enrage his father when he couldn't catch any kills.

Because the two would always attached at the hip, this kept Elijah's own rage from getting the better of him. When Finn got on his nerves, Elijah would find a reason to send Niklaus ahead, though only a few times so he wouldn't feel like he was trying to get rid of him.

He never wanted to do that.

Klaus was the reason he did anything, good or bad. He was the one he wanted to protect. Whether it was witnessing his death as Aurora had threatened to to, or having a dagger shoved through his chest, like when he had visions of Marcel doing so and he ended up ripping out his heart and throwing him off a bridge. He'd do anything to protect him, because as Cami said, he loves him.

"Because you're my little brother." He finally answered.