SHE PROMISED ( the originals )

0037. I'M AS GUILT-RIDDEN AS THEY COME

SHE PROMISED
( part two, chapter thirty-seven )

STILL SHACKLED, ELLE STOOD IN FRONT of one of the many windows of the study. She was twiddling with her thumbs, blankly staring out the window. She didn't even notice when Klaus came into the room and watched her for a good five minutes.

When she did notice him, she did not look in his direction. "You were right," she whispered but because of his enhanced hearing, he heard her clear as day. Elle looked at him and he could see her eyes wet with tears but none looked like they were going to fall. She sat on the window seat, the chains falling between her knees. "Goddamn it, you were so right. She really is a monster."

He remained silent as he placed his hands in his back pockets. Klaus watched his sister as she spoke, her chest rising and falling slowly.

"I should have trusted you," Elle said. "I should have believed you. Maybe..." She paused, slouching and shaking her head. "Maybe if I didn't trust her, I could've stopped her from doing... whatever it was she was doing to you guys. I could've done something. Damn it!" If she had her magic, the lamp beside her would've shattered. Hell, the windows would have shattered. Instead, she settled on kicking one of the bookshelves. "I was just too 一 God!" She gripped her hair. "I should have... I should have trusted the people I've known these past few months instead of this woman who's barely helped me! I could have stopped her 一"

"No one blames you, Elle." He had moved to stand closer to her, hesitant to touch her. "It was not your 一"

"Stop saying that!" Elle shouted, standing up. "I have been stupid and ignorant to everything that has happened 一 the witches plotting against you, your daughter dying, Mother lying to me! I should've been smarter and known better than to trust them."

"Elle 一"

"I mean, God!" She held her head in her hands. "How does no one hate me? I've either kept life-changing secrets, like hiding the fact that I'm a freaking Mikaelson from Cordelia, or decided to not help out people when it's so painstakingly obvious that they need help or been a stupid little girl."

Elle fell to her knees, still clutching her head. "I just wanted us to be together," she whispered. The brunette shook her head, wiping away the tears that fell from her eyes. "But instead I made stupid mistakes and been naïve and 一"

Klaus stopped her and kneeled before his little sister. He squeezed her shoulders tightly. "Katrielle."

The witch froze, her lips parting and her brows scrunched together, eyes wide.

"Yes, you've kept secrets and made mistakes, but what could you have done? Even if you had uncovered the witches' plot, what could you have done? You'd have died trying to protect my child. The fact that you feel regret and guilt for doing something as not knowing the truth shows that you are anything but selfish." His hands fell to his sides. "You have been kind and selfless since the moment I've known you, wanting to help us with our endeavors despite barely knowing us. You care so much about everyone, it's envious.

"Do you remember the night I came to check on you?" Klaus asked, his voice soft and his blue eyes sad. She nodded. "I saw something I shouldn't have that night and you trusted me with your secrets." His thumb rubbed her shoulder, gently stroking one of the scars underneath her shirt. "You opened up to me in ways that Elijah has not, and he has been at my side for a thousand years, never faltering. And I have opened up to you, something rarely anyone has gotten me to do in my entire life."

Elle slowly started to smile, a small one but happy and genuine. "You... you called me Katrielle," she whispered. "You've never called me that before."

Klaus smiled as well. "It is your name, isn't it?"

"It's hella weird to hear it coming from you," Elle said. "I think I'm still okay with Elle." She smiled and nodded to herself. "I'm still sorry. I'm sorry I didn't listen to my big brothers when I really should have. I... should have listened to you; you're my brother and I've known you a helluva lot longer than I've known Mother."

"You don't have to apologize to me."

"I do," Elle affirmed. "I am sorry, Nik. And if you'll have me... I'd like to join your ragtag group of rebels against the blood traitor that is our mother." She wiped away the last of her tears with the back of her hand.

She watched as her older brother removed the shackles with a smirk, the metal clattering to the floor with a loud clatter. "I should be the one to apologize," he said.

"For what?"

"Rejecting you. Saying you had no place in this family." He placed a hand on her arm just above her elbow. "You're a Mikaelson, whether I like it or not; you are and always will be family. Always and forever."

A/N: double update &
my cuties being cuties