SIDE CHARACTER [ 1 ]| THE ORIGINALS & LEGACIES

T W E N T Y - T W O

I sat in my room that night crying. Crying for the time with Hope that was running out, crying for the father I never had that I had now, crying for the mother I never knew, crying for all the pain I had felt in a millennia. 

I sniffled and wiped my face, mumbling, "I can hear you over there, Dad."

There was a soft chuckle. My door wasn't closed all the way, and I could hear him breathing from outside of it. He pushed the door open, revealing his concerned father face. It was a look I never saw on him before, but it suited him. Elijah Mikaelson was always meant to be a father.

"What ails you, my child?" he asked, sitting next to me on my bed.

Even after all these years, he was stuck in his vocabulary. I found that to be one of my favorite qualities of him.

"I lot," I laughed, trying to make jokes out of my pain.

"Like what?" he asked.

"What was mom like?" I asked, my voice small as I felt weaker than I ever had been.

I saw his face go cold as well, before a small smile formed on his lips.

"Well," he started. "She was a lot like you, I suppose."

He explained to me how she had my height and our hair fell the same way upon our shoulders. He told me how we both had this lightness to ourselves, that there was something about us that made it easy to want to be around, and hard to not to. He told me how she was hard not to love, and that even in their most heated disputes, she never stopped being poised, keeping her chin up as she spoke because she knew exactly who she was, and exactly how she would be treated and regarded.

"She was a total badass," he told me. 

"She sounds amazing," I said. "I wish I could've known her."

"I know your mother is watching you from wherever she is," he replied, holding me to his chest and running his hands through my hair to try to calm me down. "And I know for a fact, she loved you, my darling."

My sobs started up again with his words, and he put his chin on top of my head. He kissed my head for a moment, and even though I certainly was no longer a child, it felt good to be regarded as someone's daughter.

Though, there were two women in my life who treated me like their daughter: Freya and Hayley. 

After remembering that, I started crying for Hayley, before calming myself down.

"It's not your fault, you know," I told him. "What happened to Hayley."

He tensed at the mention, and he simply said, "I suppose, but I could've prevented it."

"We all could've," I replied. "If I were seconds sooner, if I hadn't run to Hope and Roman, if Uncle Klaus could've gotten up quicker. But it's not your fault, Dad."

"Thank you," he said, sincerity in his voice.

"Hayley was great," I told him. "And it made me happy all these years knowing how much you two loved each other, to know you found love finally."

There was noise coming from my balcony, and we both looked at it. Elijah got up, ready to protect me from whatever creature of the night was coming for me. We both relaxed when we saw that it was Roman, looking like a deer caught in headlights when he saw my father.

"Crap," he said when he opened the door. He pointed behind himself, and said, "I can come back later."

Elijah looked to me, a smile on his face. He said, "I like this one, despite it all."

With that, he left my room, but not before turning around to give Roman a stern father look, and he left. He closed my door behind him, but a moment later it reopened. He stared at us with a protective glance, which made me laugh even in my sad state. 

When he left, Roman laid on the bed with me. I leaned my head onto his shoulder, both of us silent. I closed my eyes for a moment, tired from the crying I had done all night. Before I felt myself draft off, Roman pulled me into him, laying me down on his chest.