Born of Chaos ☽ E. Mikaelson¹

twenty-five ☽ goodbye tour

Cora left the party early, too nervous about her impending talk with Elijah to stay. She didn't change before she let herself into his room, crossing her legs as she sat down on his bed. Smoothing her dress over and over again, Cora tried to calm herself from what she had to tell him.

From the contented look on his face, Cora figured that he must've gotten the leaders of the factions to sign his peace treaty. The contented look shifted something to entirely carefree when he saw her.

God, she loved the way he smiled.

"How is it that you still manage to look so perfect after the debacle that was tonight?" Elijah mused quietly, walking to stand in front of her as he removed his jacket. As he leaned down to kiss her, Cora pulled back, taking his hand instead.

"Please sit, Elijah." Her voice was so quiet that Elijah wasn't sure he would've been able to hear her if he wasn't a vampire.

"Is there something wrong?"

Cora was holding his hands for courage and finally, she coaxed herself into looking him in the eyes to rip the bandaid off.

"I'm leaving."

"Oh."

"You're not gonna ask why?"

"I'm afraid I've gotten rather accustomed to us leaving one another," Elijah admitted softly, with a notably heartbroken expression. Cora felt her stomach lurch at his reaction. He didn't deserve this. They didn't. Maybe, naively, Cora had thought the fact that they loved each other (outright and aloud), that would've been the end of their separations from one another.

His family knew. The few people that Cora had knew. The obstacles that had stopped them from fully being together were now gone, only to be taken over by new blockades.

"I don't want to leave, Elijah. I want to stay with you," Cora said, raising her hands to touch his face. "But if I stay with you right now, I'll be putting you in danger."

So, Cora told him all about the Other Side, save for her brother, of course. That was still a story that she wasn't quite ready to tell him.

"I'm vulnerable and you guys are too. You have the white oak stake and I hate to remind you, but I am capable of overpowering you and Klaus."

It was something that Cora had to say out loud. Even back when they first met, Cora never disclosed the full extent of her magic. She just promised Elijah that he would never hear from or about her again. For the record, she kept that promise. It wasn't her fault that they ran into each other again.

Her words were sobering as Elijah recalled the things that she had told him about what she could do. The things that she'd done that he was able to witness. There was not a single thought in his mind that doubted what she said.

That's not what he cared about at the moment.

"You've been alone in this?" Elijah asked carefully, quietly. Cora nodded her head, hearing that faint dark voice in the back of her mind.

"How long do we have before you have to leave?"

Cora couldn't help the flicker of a smile that crossed her lips when she noted his choice of words.

We.

"Two days."

"While you're gone, you'll call me?"

"Elijah Mikaelson, how clingy of you," Cora teased quietly. Elijah pulled her in for a chaste kiss, a burning look in his eyes.

"I'd rather be clingy than go a day without hearing your voice."