A/N: Title inspired from the song 'Salvation' by Gabrielle Aplin
~ I never meant to fall for you but I
Was buried underneath and
All that I could see was white
My salvation... ~
Chapter 40: You're My Salvation
Hayley sat upon a wine red antique leather sofa; she hugged her knees tight, her bare feet pressing onto the material. She clutched her phone tightly. He still wasn't back. Nor was anyone else. She struggled to deal with how this was possible.
"They're Originals..." she thought.
"If Celeste is capable of threatening all three of the Mikaelsons in one night...what else could she possibly do next?" Hayley shuddered.
"What will she do?" she breathed and a dread came upon her again as the ambiguity of the situation only made her imagine the worst.
Hayley then suddenly gritted her teeth angrily and glanced at the clock sharply, its tick only building up the apprehension within her. She hated not being able to help, to do something, anything. Being locked up in tower like a damsel in distress was not like her at all. She only agreed to be so cotton swathed because of her baby. Otherwise, her palms twitched in the ache of wanting to be actively involved. Learning about her family tonight had now only increased this effect.
Jackson had left soon after, the curse of the moon driving him to delve into the darkness of the woods.
Hayley had thanked him for protecting her during the fire and also for the occasions in the past, despite their spat she sensed he was a good man.
"I've been dreaming about this meeting since I was a kid. I never thought it was going to be this crazy." He had chuckled lightly causing Hayley's eyes to fall towards the ground.
She had looked up though, a few seconds after and smiled a small smile.
"Hey, Jackson I won't stop until I find a way to break this curse okay? I promise." Hayley had vowed and he had replied with a sombre but firm nod.
As Hayley ran over these moments in her mind, she was startled by a rush of noise, several footsteps and then incessant prattle.
Her heart rate leapt.
She was immediately onto her feet rushing towards the direction of the sound and reached the wooden balcony above the compound in seconds, grasping it and pulling herself forth in the search for what was happening.
Marcel stood below surrounded by several of his vampires, one in particular, Diego was speaking to him.
"We've looked everywhere for him. Tore apart the cauldron, the city of the dead. Wherever they got him, he ain't in the French Quarter. " He spoke and Marcel's face hardened.
Hayley felt her hands grow clammy and her throat grow slightly more dry. She wondered who they were speaking of. Elijah or Klaus? The thought of both of them being in the anguish that Celeste seemed capable of concocting left, right and centre unnerved her for one was the man she loved and the other was the father of her child.
Nonetheless she was provided with her answer soon after.
Her eyes latched onto Elijah as he charged in towards the vampires, a torn black jacket gripped tightly in his grasp, his knuckles a deathly white. He was fueled by rage.
"MARCEL! Where is my brother!" he bellowed and that was all you needed to see to realised the power the original held.
Marcel held his hands up as if to summon some sort of calm.
"I got guys out looking for him right now." He spoke but his words were useless.
Elijah's eyes grew as black as the night and he became a blur slamming two supernatural bodies against the concrete metres away.
"Elijah!" Hayley yelled down at him instinctively as if it were a reflex and he was instantly disarmed, his eyes trailing above him to search for her.
He noticed her standing and the balcony and calmed. Seeing her safe brought back the composure he knew was crucial at this point in time. He ached for her but turned to look away, fastening the button on his suit jacket and facing Marcel with an authoritative glare.
"Tell me exactly what you know." He spoke steadily.
"You know your brother, Klaus threw one of his classic temper tantrums, snapped my neck, tried to take on a coven of witches by himself. I don't know where he is or how to find him." Marcel summarised in his response.
Elijah looked down in a dismay and deep thought.
He threw the jacket in his grasp forth so that Marcel's eyes latched onto it.
"They also have my sister. Each one of you will assist me to find my siblings and for the witches behind this... I'm gonna kill them all." He uttered before walking past Marcel and into the building itself.
Elijah staggered up the stairs into the first room that came before him. He peeled off his jacked and threw it aside, tearing off his tie until it hung around his neck.
Tonight he was struggling to be the calm and collective self he so very often was. They could lose everything, both his siblings in one night and even that at the hands of his own once lover back from the dead.
"Who knows how long she has been scheming with this treacherous plan?" he hissed at himself inside bubbling with self hatred for not following through his theory sooner. His think before act and gradual hunt had turned around and kicked him hard. If Klaus had known, he would have acted on instinct. They could have prevented this.
"The child, this family's salvation." His mind throbbed terribly. This was the family he was meant to protect. He fell onto the sofa covering his creased face with both hands tightly and breathing harshly into them before he looked up, his elbows still digging into his thighs.
He clenched his jaw so tightly he was sure he'd soon crack the enamel of his white teeth but before him came no other than Hayley.
Her eyes grew a strong sense of sad as he filled up her view. When he saw her his entire body had frozen. Hayley knew that was an impulse. Elijah never let anyone see him as anything other than entirely self-possessed or powered by a noble rage.
She wonder for how long he had been denying himself the right to feel and it pained her to guess. Even when angry he had the gift of directing his fume in a calculated manner. She thought about him dealing with these strains isolated, the jittering arrows of emotion stabbing him behind that hard mask he wore so graciously.
Hayley realised she was one of the only exceptions to this filtering of feeling but right now he seemed to be too ashamed to express even in front of her. She stepped forwards.
Elijah noticed her look. He struggled to face it. He was not worthy of such pity. He forced himself to tense to place his feelings on hold. They banged against the bars of his chest. He felt the need to remain strong in front of her as if part of him felt any weakness would be distasteful. It was proving hard, he thought about leaving but she stepped closer.
A magnet inside him wished for him to pull her close. To hold her so tight for he had nearly lost her and just thinking about how close this outcome could easily have included her death racked his soul with a horror.
"She has no idea how dangerous it is to be loved by you." Celeste's voice echoed in his might and ache for the woman before him was forced to crouch into a corner. He realised the extent to how selfish he had been with her.
"Stop it." Hayley suddenly snapped as if she could hear his very thoughts.
Elijah turned to look at her with surprise.
Her face displayed a frustration and look between anger and sympathy.
"Stop blaming yourself." She whispered firmly, pressing on each word.
Elijah closed his eyes. How had she begun to read him so well?
Again he fought against pulling her towards him, towards the remarkable woman who still somehow found a way to love the cursed being he was.
"Hayley you could have died in that blaze tonight, with my niece." He spoke solemnly.
"I know." She breathed letting the statement settle. She folded her arms across her wishing they were his and swivelled to face her side. She could tell he was refusing to touch her out of some self-sacrificing complex picking away at his brain and it bothered her that he wouldn't just walk here and take what he needed.
Elijah saw her frustration. The way he saw it, either way he was hurting her but Celeste made it sound like a sin.
He rose from his seat and Hayley waited for what he would do, her face both sad and cross still.
His face was expressionless and she cursed him inside knowing what he was thinking.
Her face plastered a look of disappointment. Her forehead creased, she turned to face him directly.
"What has she said?" Hayley spat knowing all too well that this was most likely Celeste's doing.
Elijah admired her perceptiveness inside. His sharp-tongued werewolf, his eyes raked over her tempting lips.
He had zoned out and was staring at her likely a statue. He recalled their first kiss and how he had felt the urge to freeze the moment with her and live it forever. He found himself wishing that all the warring and deceit would cease to exist and that the complications which clung to their relationship would just turn to ashes like those settling upon the plantation house and for once, for once, he could just have what he so dreadfully was craving.
Hayley pursed her lips angered further by his unresponsiveness. She impulsively strode over to him, her stunning eyes flashing closer and...
Elijah awoke from his trance in a heartbeat. She had slapped him. Again.
He placed a hand on his cheek and then looked at her as if she were a rubix cube.
"What has she said Elijah?" Hayley growled as Elijah continued to watch her in a strange sense of awe.
"That's you're some sort of threat? That you should let me go because it's too "dangerous"?" she asked mocking the last word.
Elijah's cast her a look of fury on hearing her flippant tone but it had no affect on her.
She spoke before he could.
"From the moment I have met you, you have been hell bent on helping your so very broken family and who knows for how many centuries you've been doing that. Klaus is nuts and still you don't give up on the chance of finding his redemption and I know nothing would stop you from sacrificing anything for Rebekah's happiness. Don't you see how insane this self-hating, self-sacrificing crap is?" Hayley snapped.
"Elijah don't you freaking see? You are their salvation, you always have been." Her voice blared into his mind.
Elijah winced internally at her dragging such a light deprived subject into the center of conversation.
"Elijah if anyone can get Rebekah and Klaus back, it's you and I know you will because that's just what you do." She then pressed stressing each word.
Elijah took each of her words looking at her directly, he was frozen by her sentiment.
"And as for me don't you dare try and make any of my decisions. This is my life and I have chosen to love you." She spoke more softly toward the end.
Elijah felt himself melt at her words.
"You asked me to come back in the bayou Elijah, you said you couldn't stay away, you said. "Do you really think things will work if I don't have you." Did you not mean all that?" she asked painfully.
"Or is that just something you feel occasionally only to shut off in situations like this?" she spoke more timidly.
She turned away from him her eyes slightly watery.
"Hayley." Elijah breathed enlightened by her speech, freed from Celeste's sister spell of torment.
"I meant every word." He spoke honestly, needing her to know the truth of his every statement towards her. He then stepped forward causing her to turn back around.
He impulsively cupped her face and Hayley hummed at his touch which she had been longing for and equally in Elijah a sense of completion washed over him.
"Please forgiv-"Elijah began wanting to expressed his apology for acting so foolishly once again but he was silenced by Hayley.
"Just shut up." She replied brushing his words aside and pulling him to kiss her deeply. She sighed against his lips and Elijah drowned against her feeling as if she really were his own personal remedy. A sense of relief wrapped them together and despite their yearning this kiss felt more serene, like the calm after a snowstorm. Their eyes were not scrunched shut but closed gently and their hearts thudded regularly not in haste. They stopped to breathe gently looking at each other when Elijah then lifted her tenderly and effortlessly and carried her silently to his room.
He placed her on her feet inside and pressed soft kisses upon her lips before placing his forehead upon hers and tracing her lips.
"You're my salvation..." he whispered.