Elijah Mikaelson
Flashback to 1759
"How are you feeling?" I ask to my fiancée who was lying on my chest. She turns her body so she was facing me and I pull her closer to me.
"Can you believe it? We're getting married tomorrow." She awes and I smile a genuine smile. "Took you a while, but we finally got there." She jokes but I just press a kiss to the top of her head, trying my best to not get her hair in my mouth.
"My apologies, love. Next time I propose, I'll do it faster."
"No, it's fine. The longer you take, the more epic our story becomes." She says happily.
"Epic, hmm?" I muse and I could practically feel her eyes roll.
"Yes. Epic." She says and we both fall into a comfortable silence.
End of Flashback
Morrigan Brooks
I woke up with a smile, and when I remembered the previous night, my smile got wider.
I called Eliza last night and told her everything, though her main take away was that I got to go to a ball and she didn't.
I was doing my best not to dance around my kitchen with the mood I was in, when my phone rang.
"Elena?" I say when I pick up the phone. "What's up?"
"Could you come over? Bonnie, Caroline and I, well... mostly Bonnie, is trying to figure something witchy out and at this rate, it's useless."
"Yeah, 'course. Give me five minutes and I'll be there."
I grabbed a blood bag and made my way upstairs to change from my pyjamas.
It wasn't freezing, but it wasn't warm, so I settled for a black long sleeved top that went slightly off my shoulders and a pair of black flare pants with some basic heels.
I got into my car and drove to the Gilbert house. I walk in and make my way up to Elena's bedroom to find only two of them.
"Hello," I say in a sing song voice. I look around to see two of the three girls that I expected. "Where's Caroline?" I ask, when the door to the bathroom opens.
"Here," she says brightly.
"Thank you for coming, Rory," Elena says. She was sitting on the bed with Bonnie and dividing them was a tray, I assume it's usual purpose was breakfast in bed or something along those lines, but on it were several candles, an ashtray and a bundle of sage.
"Oh, we awakening the dead?" I joke, though secretly I wouldn't put anything past them.
"Yesterday when I saw Esther, she did this privacy spell so no one, not even vampires, could hear us." Elena explains.
"A privacy spell? With sage?" I ask and she nods. "Pass it here." I say to Bonnie and she obliged, handing me the weakly burning sage.
I tried to remember the spell since I hadn't done it for a number of years before I start.
I re-light the sage and let energy flow into the bundle, creating an abundance of smoke.
"Caroline, can you hear me?" I ask, and when there was no response, I snuffed out the sage on the ashtray before knocking on the bathroom door.
"Have you guys started?" She asks, poking her head out of the doorway and I smile.
"I just had to make sure I could still do it. I can teach you, Bonnie?"
Bonnie nods gratefully so I sit on the bed, demonstrating how to do the spell while the other two watch on, seeming mildly interested.
I tried to teach Bonnie the spell as well as I could, but there was a bit of blockage. A... lack of magic.
"Is there any reason you would have less magic than usual?" I ask and the three exchange looks like they didn't want to tell me.
"Well ..." Elena says but Bonnie stops her.
"Elena." The witch snaps but I keep my eyes on both of them.
"What?" I ask cautiously.
"She'll find out anyway," Elena argues and Bonnie looks as if she wanted to argue more but she relents.
"Esther... came to visit me. She's channeling me and my whole witch line, living and dead. That's how she's getting the power."
"The power for what?" I ask slowly and Bonnie doesn't speak for a second before blurting it out.
"She's going to kill all of the originals." Bonnie says and my heart skips a beat, though I didn't know why. I barely knew them and I already felt protective.
"How?" I demand and she quickly explains what she did with the champagne last night.
I was only half listening because I heard footsteps coming to the front door. I recognised those footsteps.
"Well, ladies," I say in a tight tone. "Time to face the music. Or... original, but you know, same thing." And as if on queue, the doorbell rung. "And by the way," I say, turning to Elena. "Elijah knows you were lying last night. It's better to tell the truth now than he find out what you were lying about." Her eyes go wide but my main focus now was to stop that woman from killing her kids. "Do you want me to get that?" I say in a sickly sweet voice, referring to the door.
Elena nods numbly but follows me as I go down stairs. I swing the door open and low and behold, there was the second oldest original standing at the door with a stoic expression on his face.
"Elena. Morrigan. What a surprise you're here." He says to me in a light tone.
"Oh, Elijah, you're going to want to hear this," I say, though I tried to hide my blush at the memory of last night. "Call me when you need something." I quickly lower my voice. "Or just call me." I whisper so Elena doesn't hear. He smirks for a second before turning back to the doppelgänger.
I was walking away, but while my back was turned, I listen to a snippet of their conversation.
"I don't mean to intrude," he says. "I was hoping you might accompany me."
That was all I heard, as I got in my car and sped off back to my house.
When I get home I run straight to the room with all my grimoires that were still littered around the floor, but I clear a path to the wooden table in the middle of the room, where my spelled lunar chart lay.
"Fuck," I say through gritted teeth. It was a full moon, meaning Esther could draw as much power as she desired, and she will have no problem with the power she 'needed'.
There was no way I could block her magic if she was channelling a whole bloodline, living and dead, but there had to be a way to interfere with her spell.
Killing one of the Bennett's wouldn't work, since they would still be a witch on the other side that Esther could still channel.
So how could I stop her from killing the Mikaelsons?
"Creare in animo opus" I mutter, and ten grimoires spontaneously open, so I pick up the closest one and read through the open page.
Suspending magic in any set area, some script in my handwriting said.
Jeez, that title is such a mouthful. 1924 me had way too much time, I think, flicking through my old works.
That first book was mostly useless, seeing as Esther could easily stop any of those spells, so I moved onto an earlier volume. My first ever grimoire, with 1434 etched into the binding.
I looked at the open page and it was the very last one.
How to stop a rogue witch, the title said and I shivered at the memory of why I wrote this page.
Flashback to 1440
How on earth can I birth a thing this big, keep it a secret and still keep it? I think, as I walk throughout the woods. Deep enough that I wouldn't be caught by anyone, god forbid my father.
He had become unpredictable and violent in the last year and I could now confidently say I feared him. The man who told me fairy tales and the man who was without a doubt my role model was long gone and all that was left was a cold dark shell that needed power.
I constantly feared I would be next. I constantly feared he would find out about my state and raise my child as a lamb for slaughter.
I knew in my heart that something had to be done about him, I knew it, but when I looked at him, for only a split second, I saw my father, before his cold expression sunk in.
Maybe there is a way to fix him. Maybe make him less power hungry?
I don't think even the most powerful and experienced witch could do that.
If it came to it, I would put him down. For my child.
Maybe I could take away his magic? Or turn him into a vampire, though that would require me to first: find a vampire, and second: make sure my father doesn't become vengeful.
The latter would be the most difficult task of the two, having seen the ever growing hatefulness that surrounds my father on a daily basis.
I just didn't know what to do.
End of flashback
I snap out of my daze when my phone rings and I smile at the caller ID, though I knew this call would be all business.
"Elijah," I say into my phone.
"Hello Mor," he says with a sigh. "Can I ask something of you?" He says it like he hated saying it. Like it was poison to his tongue, though I couldn't figure out why. I would be surprised if he didn't know I would happily help him anytime.
"Of course. What's up?"
"Are you at home?" He asks and I narrow my eyes because I didn't know where he was going with this.
"Yes," I say slowly before I hear a knock.
"Good. So am I."
I speed to the door to see him standing there, leaning against my doorframe. He looked pretty good for someone whose mother is actively trying to kill him.
"Elena told you, I take it?" I say and he nods, obviously annoyed.
"I've enlisted the Salvatore's to help me, but I've given them... uncertain motivation. Plus, with their history, I don't have complete faith in them."
"Help with what?" I say, stepping aside so he can come inside.
"I have no idea where my mother is, and my siblings as well as I need to find her before six past nine because-" He says but I cut him off.
"That's when the moon is full. Yeah. That's actually what I've been doing." I show him my grimoires and he gazes at them briefly.
"Thank you. I didn't want to get you into this mess." He says and I roll my eyes playfully.
"Of course, Elijah." I say. "Now do you want to look through some pages or are you going to let me do all of it?"
TOGETHER, the work was reasonably light, though we only found one spell that might work, and that was a big might.
"It's seven forty four and we've still got virtually nothing." I say, exasperated. Elijah sighs, shutting his book.
"The Salvatore's will kill one of the Bennett's, so it will be alright. My mother will be stopped and I or one of my siblings will kill her. Again." Elijah says, seeming exhausted.
"Would that work?" I ask, knowing how Esther is channelling both living and dead Bennett's, as far back as what I can only assume is when she was alive previously.
"I hope so." He says.
I nod, and continue to try track the originals mother, though my efforts were proving to be futile. She had herself cloaked.
"Can I have some of your blood, please?" I ask and he wordlessly nods, other thoughts obviously occupying his mind. I pass him a glass and he bites into his wrist, letting blood from his artery spill neatly into it.
When he passes it to me, I pour it on my map of Mystic Falls before starting my chant.
"Mortuos solvae familiaritatem invenire cum magica in invenire venas conteram externum viribus confractus."
I look down to see Elijah's blood pooling in one inconclusive place.
The forest.
But why on earth was she hanging out in the forest? Unless...
"I know where she is. Let's go." I say, standing up and he does too, though slightly erratically.
"What? No, she's too dangerous." Elijah says and I roll my eyes.
"Elijah, your mother, while being powerful is really just a bitch. No offence or anything, but-" But I cut myself off when Elijah falls to his knees and starts to desiccate. "Elijah!" I exclaim. He was fully desiccated now and I kneel, placing his head on my lap. "Shit shit shit." I say. "Please don't be dead." I mutter, attempting to figure out why he suddenly dropped.
"Vita sraumus," I say. He wasn't dead, so to speak, so Esther hadn't done her spell prematurely, thank god, but I couldn't tell what had happened.
Suddenly, his eyes open as he inhales a big breath.
"Oh thank god." I say. He coughs and as a result, sits up so I stand, reaching out my hand.
"Let's go, Elijah." I say leaving no room for argument.
He takes my hand when he stands up, but not to lead me out the door.
"Morrigan, please. I can't lead you there when I don't know what my mother or Finn are fully capable of."
"Elijah," I say, clasping his hands. "I promise, I'm a big girl. I've got like six hundred years of living on her. I can take care of myself."
"I know, love, god, I know, but they are both so much older, physically, and when I think about losing you anoth-" He starts but cuts himself before clearing his throat and re starting. "When I think of losing you to them, I feel as if I'm going insane. Please, you are too valuable." I can only gape at his confession. "I know how strong you are, but Finn is older than you. Yes, he spent nine hundred years in a coffin but he is so unpredictable."
"Elijah, no offence or anything, but I could snap his neck without even touching him."
"Mor please. I promise, when I come back I will take you out wherever you want."
"You promise?" I ask, bluffing.
"I didn't kiss you for nothing." He says with a coy smile which I return.
"That sounds fun." I say, lowering my head. "But I'm still coming." I whisper and he sighs, as if he expected it.
"I tried," he sighs walking out the door with my hand encased in his. The simple gesture brought butterflies to my stomach, even though I knew that was inappropriate due to the circumstances.
He lets go of my hand and speeds off and I follow him all the way to the Grill, or the alley next to the Grill.
"I should have killed you months ago," I hear Klaus saying before Damon replies in his usual Damon fashion.
"Do it. It's not gonna stop Esther from killing you." He says and I can almost feel the air still around Klaus.
"What did you say about my mother?" Klaus says as Elijah and I walk over to the stairs that connect the alley to the pathway.
"You didn't know I was friends with your mommy?" Damon taunts. It's almost as if he had a death wish. "Yeah, we have a lot in common. She hates you as much as I do." That was the straw that almost broke the camels back, since Klaus went to either rip Damon's heart out or hit him or something along those lines, before Elijah stepped in, still standing with me at the top of the steps.
"Leave him." He said in a calm but commanding tone. "We still need him Niklaus."
Klaus then ignores Damon and starts talking to Elijah in an impatient tone.
"What did mother do?" He asks but when Elijah doesn't answer, he continues. "What did she do Elijah?"
Elijah, along with me, walks down the stairs and faces Damon.
"Come." He says but Damon just scoffs.
"I'm not your lapdog," he says, rolling his eyes.
"I suggest you come, or I'll have my sister kill Elena right now." Elijah says. So that's his leverage.
"You told me we had until after nine." Damon says after glancing at the big clock in the middle of the town square.
"I'm sure Rebekah would be more than happy to start her work early."
Damon's nostrils flare slightly, but he follows as Elijah walks away.
"You're with them now?" Damon spits. I see Elijah's shoulders stiffen, though he doesn't interfere.
"We've talked about this, Damon." I say, exhausted with his questioning. "I'm not team Salvatore or team Mikaelson. I'm team Morrigan."
"That literally makes no sense." He says and I roll my eyes.
"I could argue, if I used your logic, that you're with them."
"Whatever, Ror." I could tell there was more he wanted to say but didn't, though I wasn't sure if I wanted to listen to him chastise me again, so I left it alone.
Damon got in his car where Stefan followed and the two drove off, presumably to the old witch house.
"So. Where are we going?" Klaus asks.
"Old witch house in the woods." I say before speeding off.
I knew the two originals were hot on my heels, but I stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I turned around and there was Elijah again.
"I know you can protect yourself, I know but please do not take her on. Not one on one."
I nod, not having the energy nor the time to argue with him.
"I promise. Then you can take me out on, what was it? Wherever I want?" I say with a smile.
"Wherever you want." He confirms.
Kol had joined us and as a four, me behind the three boys, we walked up the hill to where the ritual had been set up.
"They're coming mother!" I hear Finn say. I had never held a proper conversation with the guy and he was already getting on my nerves.
"It's too soon." I hear Esther beseeched. "The moon isn't high enough. Go! Quickly!" She said to who I assumed were the Bennett's. "My sons. Come forward." She commanded as if she weren't standing in her own little protective bubble.
"Stay beside me." Finn said, putting out his hand but Esther pays him no attention.
"It's ok. They can't enter." The fires burned brighter as she said it and then even brighter when Kol did try to enter.
"That's lovely," he muses. "We're stuck out here while the favourites son plays sacrificial lamb. How pathetic you are Finn."
"And quiet, Kol." Esther says. "Your brother knows virtue you cannot even imagine."
"Whatever you think of us, killing your own children would be an atrocity." Elijah says, trying to appeal to her but in her eyes, there was no turning back.
"My only regret is that I did not let you die a thousand years ago." She says. Damn. That's cold.
"Enough," Klaus drawls. "All this talk is boring me. End this now or I'll send you back to hell."
"For a thousand years I've been forced to watch you." Esther leers. "I felt the pain of every victim, suffered while you shed blood. Even you Elijah, with your claim to nobility, you're no better." Damn, this woman is angry. "All of you. You're a curse on this earth. Stretched out over generations." There was a glint of a tear in her eyes now. "If you've come to plead for your life, I'm sorry. You've wasted your time."
Come on Damon and Stefan, I think. Now would be great for dramatic effect.
As if they heard me, mere seconds after the thought, Esther cried out.
"No! Sisters! Do not abandon me!" She says, talking to seemingly no one, though I assumed she was really trying to reach the ancestors.
The flames grow and grow and Finn cries out to protect Esther, but when the flames died, they were gone.
So much for dramatics.
I look to Elijah but he was just gazing to where his mother and brother formerly stood.
"I'm gonna..." I start. "I'm going home." I say, giving him space to think and mourn a loving mother.
THE shower still dripped as I dried my hair in front of the mirror, thinking about the night we had just had.
The build up was so much more exciting than the ending and honestly, I was perfectly fine with that. If the only thing I had to do was attend charity galas or travel like I used to, I would be content.
Sure, the quiet life was fun and all, but then again, Mystic Galls was exciting and after over fifty years of the same wishy-washy bullshit, it was a welcome change of pace.
A change of pace. That was exactly what I needed before I came to this town.
I set down my hairdryer and left my bathroom, just wanting to go to bed, just to see Elijah, casually sitting on my bed, making me jump once again.
"And when I thought we had finally gotten a handle on the concept of a door. No pun intended." I say, making him chuckle.
"Spontaneity is good for the soul." He says with a smile and I roll my eyes.
"Are you here because you want to have a sleepover? Because I have Legally Blonde and face masks on hand at all times."
"I'm leaving. My mother is stopped, and there is no obligation for me to be here, but I want you to come with me. I'm here to take you out, like I promised, though unfortunately, I chose where we're going this time." He says, standing up.
"Elijah, it's..." I quickly check the click before continuing. "Ten twenty three on a Wednesday night. Where on earth are you going to take me?"
"You'll find out. All you have to do is come with me to the airport."
The airport, I mentally marvel. Obviously I had flown hundreds, maybe thousands of times, but no one had whisked me away like this.
Fuck it, I think, smiling at him.
"I need to know where we're going because. how else am I going to pack?"
"You can shop when we get there." I raise a brow. "It will be warm when we get there."
"Fine. Give me ten minutes." I say, trying not to squeal.
Loving the spontaneous but whipped Elijah with the grand gestures coming in clutch 🤩🤩