The next morning, Elijah approached his… mother's room. That was unbelievably strange even to think about. Ironically, his mother being back from the dead wasn't the strangest part. He and his siblings new more any other beings that death could be temporary. No, it was the body his mother resided in that made it so strange for Elijah. He'd known Elena Gilbert. He'd also known the two women who'd had the same face before her. That made it strange. But she was his mother now. It wasn't just her knowledge of their pasts. She had his mother mannerisms.
However, just because Elijah believed Elena Gilbert was now also his mother didn't mean he trusted her completely. She was brought back to kill them all, and he couldn't be sure that she truly wanted nothing to do with that mission. The way she forgave Niklaus was peculiar to him. He was responsible for the last thousand years of torment she'd endured. True, it was Ayana who cast the spell on her, but Niklaus had killed her.
Elijah prepared to knock on the door when he was interrupted.
"Come in, Elijah," Elena said from inside.
Elijah opened the door and walked inside before closing the door. He found Elena… his mother, making the bed from the night before. "I will never understand how you are able to do that."
Elena turned and grinned at her second oldest son. "I brought seven children into this world. Having eyes in the back of my head is part of the job description. Besides, I know your movements. I heard your footsteps and your pause. I know you, Elijah."
Elijah nodded as he avoided her gaze. Looking at her knowing who she was was proving difficult.
"It's difficult for you to reconcile who I am while I'm wearing this face, isn't it?" Elena asked.
Elijah nodded.
"I understand. It is not without its difficulties for me either. Try to remember that I'm still your mother," Elena said.
"Yes, but to your own admission you are also Elena. I confess that I don't entirely understand that," Elijah said.
"It's difficult for me too, my dear. I am still adjusting to being two different people," Elena said.
"What does that mean exactly? Does it mean that Elena is trapped within you somewhere?" Elijah asked as he tried to understand the situation.
"No, it's not as simple as that. It is like I said last night, we are one. We're a part of each other. We share the same memories, the same feelings. Our personalities have merged, I suppose you could say. I am Esther Mikaelson, but I am also Elena Gilbert, which is why to make things easier, I will continue to use her name," Elena said.
"Does that mean my mother is in love with Stefan Salvatore?" Elijah asked with a small amount of teasing and a larger amount of distaste in his voice.
Elena chuckled. "A part of me does have good feelings towards him, yes, but I also have the life experiences that an eighteen-year-old girl would not. Stefan Salvatore is a loose cannon. He is not a good man, neither is his brother. Both of them are a bit too idiotic for my tastes. As it turns out, before we merged, Elena was having her own issues with Stefan. There was an incident on a bridge that he almost drove her over in an attempt to hurt Niklaus."
"Yes, what about Niklaus? Elena hated him. He killed her aunt. You say you have all of her memories and feelings, so you must love Jenna as well." Elijah said.
Elena nodded. She knew this was her son's way of fishing to see if her intentions were as she made them out to be. He was worried for his brother. She could understand that. Not only that, she was proud of him for it. "You worry that I would cause harm to your brother."
"It has crossed my mind. He has done a lot to you. He is the reason you spent centuries in torment," Elijah said.
Elena shook her head. "He is not. Ayana is responsible for that. She sought to judge me for doing everything in my power to protect my children. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I didn't deserve to be judged, but not by her."
"I know that Niklaus isn't directly responsible for what happened to you, but he killed you, and that lead to what Ayana did. You must have made the correlation. I'm just finding it hard to believe that you have forgiven him so easily," Elijah said.
"This is not about me forgiving Niklaus. It is about earning his forgiveness. Yes, Niklaus killed me, and you are correct that at first, I did blame him some, but I had a lot of time to think. Niklaus' actions were a direct result of my own. I lied to him his whole life and then I cursed him. I told myself that the curse was for his own good, and I believed it, but it did nothing but cause him pain. He acted out of rage. I don't believe he meant to kill me, and he told me as much last night. As for your point about Jenna's death, there's no justification for that, but that was my fault too. It was my curse than began all of this. How can I judge him for it when it wouldn't happened if not for me?" Elena asked.
Elijah looked at her intently for a few moments. He believed her. She was passionate about wanting Niklaus' forgiveness, not the other way around. She blamed herself for all that had happened.
"Have I passed your test?" Elena asked.
Elijah nodded. "My apologies, Mother."
"You have nothing to apologize for. You are looking out for your brother. That is what I taught you to do. Now, would you like to tell me about the fight I broke up last night? What would cause you and your brother to come to blow?" Elena asked.
Elijah sighed. All of that felt like it happened a lifetime ago, rather than just last night. "We grew tired of Niklaus' antics. He daggered all of us. He has daggered Kol and Rebekah many times and Finn was left daggered nearly the entire time. We decided to leave him."
"I see. I can understand why you would be angry. I don't condone the daggers, and I will be speaking to Niklaus about them. They won't be used again. However, do you think you're innocent in it? Did you ever try to remove them from your siblings?"
"No," Elijah admitted after a moment. "I've spoken to Niklaus about it, but he would never listen. It was as though he felt he owned the daggers."
"But nothing stopped you from removing them yourself, did it?" Elena asked.
"No, I suppose not. Sometimes I even agreed with it. Father was chasing us and Kol often acted reckless. There were bloodbaths, and the trials led right to us," Elijah told her.
"That's a whole different conversation, but do you think it's fair to cast your brother out for something you're responsible for as well?" Elena asked.
"It's not just that. He told me the last time we were together before he daggered me that he'd thrown our siblings into the ocean. I almost killed him for that," Elijah said.
"I know. I remember. Why do you think he did that, Elijah?" Elena asked her son.
"To torment me," Elijah said.
Elena shook her head. "I don't think you believe that any more than you do. Do you remember saying that he'd become paranoid? That he didn't trust anyone anymore?"
Elijah nodded.
"Elijah, he did it to push you away. Niklaus becomes reckless and self-destructive when he's hurt or scared. You know that better than anyone. I'm not trying to make excuses for him. Niklaus has to regain your trust. I understand that. I'm just saying don't give up on him," Elena said.
Elijah sighed. "He killed you and you still stand by his side. If you can do that, I have no excuse not to."
"He's my son, Elijah. I would never be able to give up on him, not on any of you."
"What do you intend to do now?" Elijah asked.
"Why don't we go join your siblings for breakfast? We can all talk. I'm sure your brothers and sister have the same question, as well as others," Elena said.
Elijah nodded and led the way out of the room. They went downstairs to the dining room, where the others were already seated.
Rebekah stood up and smiled. "Good morning, Mother."
Elena grinned at her daughter. "Good morning, my dear."
"I wanted to apologize for attacking you last night. If I had known it was you, I never would've done it," Rebekah promised. She was so happy to have her mother back. She didn't even care that she was now a part of the doppelganger. This was all she'd wanted for a thousand years.
"It's alright, Rebekah. Like I said, you were right to be upset. There's no need to dwell on it," Elena told her before taking a seat. Rebekah and Elijah sat down as well, and they all started eating breakfast.
"Mother, are you doing alright? You were locked in that coffin for more than a century. I know what that's like," Finn said before glaring at Klaus.
Klaus glared back at him. "Well, perhaps if you weren't such a dull…"
"Enough, both of you! Look, I know there's bad blood here," Elena said.
"That's putting it mildly," Kol said.
"But we are all family and we need to find a way to repair the damage that has been done. And, yes, I am fully aware that I've done my fair share of damage. There are so many outside forces that would attempt to tear us apart. Now is the time to come together," Elena said.
"What about when he feels like daggering us again?" Rebekah asked.
"That's not going to happen, darling. Niklaus will hand the daggers over to me as soon as we're finished here," Elena said.
Klaus immediately opened his mouth to protest, but he was interrupted.
"That was not a request, Niklaus. Your days of putting your siblings in boxes anytime they do something you don't like are over," Elena said. She wanted to make things right between herself and Niklaus, but that didn't mean she was just going to roll over and let him do as he please, especially not at the expense of her other children. "It's as I said before, we need to come together. We cannot protect ourselves from our enemies if we're at each other's throats."
"By enemies, do you refer to the Bennett witches?" Elijah asked.
"Well, I'm not too concerned about Bonnie and Abby Bennett, but I won't turn my back on them either. They may not be up to Ayana's caliber, but they still come from a strong line of witches. As for the ancestors, I think they've done their worst. Opening the coffin was their endgame. They thought I'd play ball. They were wrong. Still, a message may need to be sent to Bonnie and Abby," Elena told them.
"I have a question for you, Mother. You say you were trapped in that coffin all this time, yet you managed to get an emissary from the other side to try to convince me that the girl whose body you're inhabiting needed to die in order for me to make hybrids. You then had that same emissary try to kill her? How is that?
Elena had to search for the memory of that. She had all of Elena Gilbert's memories, but she was still sorting through them all. It took a second, but she found the memory her son was referring to. Viki Donovan was the so-called emissary. "Damn Bennett witches. Niklaus, I didn't even know who Viki Donovan was until I entered this body. I'm not sure why she said it was me who sent her. Maybe the Bennett ancestors got off on making you think I was the one trying to ruin your plans. All I know is that I was incapable to g moving, let alone interacting with spirits."
"Why would the Bennett ancestors try to have Elena killed if their goal was for you take over her body?" Elijah wondered.
"My guess is they were willing to give up their 'weapon' against you in order to prevent your brother from creating hybrids. Most witches consider vampirism a violation against nature. They would consider hybrids even worse," Elena told him.
"If you didn't prevent me from making hybrids, does that mean you'll give me more of your blood? It would go a long way in convincing me to forgive you," Klaus said. He knew he wouldn't be able to force her now that the doppelganger was now his mother, but he wasn't above emotional blackmail.
Elena smirked at her middle son. "Nice try, darling, but I won't be manipulated, nor will I buy your forgiveness. We will discuss it if and when it becomes necessary, but you won't have free range. You will not create hybrids just for the sake of it."
Klaus scowled, but he said nothing.
"Mother, have I told you how much I've missed you?" Kol asked with a smirk. Finally, there was someone to put his brother in his place. Elijah tried sometimes, but he rarely followed though.
Elena grinned. "It's going to take us time to become a family again. I have a lot to make up to all of you for, but I'm determined to make sure it happens. I hope you will all give me that chance."
"Of course, Mother," Finn said.
Rebekah nodded, as did Kol.
"I will stand by you," Elijah said. He had reservations at first, but he could tell after speaking with her that his mother had changed. He would give her another chance.
"Fine," Klaus said somewhat reluctantly. He didn't trust his mother much, and he had not forgiven her, but there were times when he wished to have her around. He'd wished to have her love him the way she used to.
"Thank you. I know we can all get though this," Elena said before returning to her breakfast. There were a lot of things that needed to be handled. She needed to tell them all about Freya so that they could find a way to save her. She also needed to get Jeremy squared away, because leaving him in Denver wasn't an option. She wanted him home with her. However, for right now, she was going to enjoy this moment with her other children.