Morrigan Brooks
Flashback to 1988
STEFAN Salvatore was notorious for spilling blood, but that never excluded him from his charms. The last time I saw him was 1864, on the east coast of America, and to be perfectly honest, I rarely thought about him or that drab little colony since I left it.
Lisbon was really quite pretty in the spring, and I wondered to myself why I didn't come here more often.
I looked down an alley and found my answer.
In the last ten years, there had been an influx of the vampire population migrating to Western Europe, and a lot of them were babies with no guidance, meaning no table manners.
"Ugh," I grumbled, marching down there and ripping the vampire off the human before snapping the vamp's neck. The last thing I needed was bodies to start turning up, forcing me to leave because the alternative was just a big headache. "Forget everything you saw here," I compel the human before pushing him in the direction of the busy street.
I flip the vampire over with my foot and see it's just a random guy, so I resisted the urge to reach into his chest and rip the beating organ from his body, and left him there. I imagined doing it as I walked away.
Walking away from the scene, I was going to slip easily into the crowd, or that was the original plan until I heard my name being called, and the manly voice definitely did not belong to Eliza.
"Morrigan?" They say. I turn around quickly, expecting to find one of my sires or something along those lines, but what I definitely didn't expect was what I saw.
"Stefan?" I laugh, walking up to him and embracing him. "How are you?"
"I'm doing well, actually. I didn't think I'd ever see you again," he says curiously and I chuckle.
"I've got to say, Stef, I was thinking the same about you," I say, looking him up and down.
"Yeah, me and Damon both turned the day after the roundup," he says lowly.
"Yeah, I saw Damon about... twenty years ago?" I say, trying to remember. "Just about that in Sydney."
"You've seen Damon?" He says, sounding surprised.
"Not recently. Why, have you not?"
He shakes his head. "Well, it usually ends badly, so I keep my distance," he shrugs, feigning indifference but his eyes tell a different story.
"Why don't we talk over a drink?" I say, wanting to get out of the busy street. "You can tell me how difficult your brother is."
End of flashback
"How old am I turning this year?" I ask and Eliza shrugs. The four of us were all sitting on the couch, watching trashy TV.
"Like... four thousand?" She shrugs and I just give her a deadpan look.
"When were you born?" Emilie asks.
"Fourteen twenty-two," I say and Henry's eyes bulge.
"Damn girl, you should be senile. Even for a vampire," he declared and I move the coaster that was on the coffee table to hit him square in the face with my magic.
"Five hundred and... eighty... eight?" Emilie says and I quickly do the arithmetic in my head and blow out a long breath.
"Holy shit," I mutter and they all laugh. "Wait, Em, you'll be turning a hundred and sixty-seven this year. Do you know what you're going to do for it?"
"Um, I haven't even thought about it," she says, leaning further back into the couch.
"We should go all out. It's your first birthday since eighteen sixty-four!" Eliza suggested and I sat up straighter.
"Yes! What are you thinking?" I start to brainstorm. "We could go back to Madrid?"
"I was just there. Santorini?" Eliza suggests and I shake my head.
"It's not great for another couple of months," I say, turning to the other two. "Feel free to jump in, because if you don't, we're going to plan this whole thing."
"I've always wanted to go to Spain," Emilie shrugs and Eliza and I lock eyes.
"Barcelona," we both say at the same time with a wide, scheming grins on our faces.
"My birthday is at the end of April, so we literally have ages," Emilie says and I scoff.
"We take party planning very seriously," I shrug, popping a handful more popcorn in my mouth, and turning back to the TV. I had been so wrapped up in my relationship, the Mystic Falls drama, and then my own drama, that I had missed out on so many episodes of so many shows. "I'm thinking a bender, then brunch."
"How many days?" Henry asks cautiously and I shrug.
"I don't know. Two, maybe three days?"
"Nothing crazy," Eliza adds and her brother looks at his girlfriend tentatively.
"That actually sounds like so much fun," she squeals, an excited smile erupting on her face. "I've never been on a bender," she says thoughtfully and we both laugh.
"Oh, honey. You'll love it," I promise.
Elijah Mikaelson
Flashback to 1759
I HADN'T left our room in a week. I couldn't bring myself to do so, because I knew if I did, I would be met with a horde of my siblings giving me sympathetic looks, as well as the multitude of memories that this house brought me.
It was also because our room was my last reminder of her. Our sheets were the last thing that smelled like her. Her dresses are the last physical memory I have.
"Elijah?" I hear, before a small knock sounded on the door. I was sitting on the floor with my back against our bed and didn't have the strength to open the door, so I let Rebekah choose whether or not she comes in. She chooses the affirmative
Opening the door slowly, she looks down at me. I can only presume I look worse for wear. "How are you, brother?" She asks and I just give her a hard look. I didn't have the energy for anything else. "Of course." She says, coming over and sitting next to me. "Nik and I were talking, and we wanted your input." I don't say anything. "We were thinking of having a funeral for her. To say goodbye." I lean back, closing my eyes and letting a salty tear leak out of my eye. "Elijah-" Rebekah starts but I cut her off.
"She was the first person to show me what it was like to live. Not exist, not survive, live." I say, my voice rough and raw. "And now she's gone and it's all my fault."
"It's not yo-" Rebekah starts, but I cut her off again, not wanting to listen to her feeble attempt at comfort.
"It is Rebekah. If I hadn't fallen in love with her, if I had pushed harder for her not to stay with us after Rosalie died, she would be living a full and happy life."
"She did live a happy life," Rebekah states and I don't answer. Instead, I circle back to her original question.
"A funeral is fine. Now forgive me, I have run out of anything to drink," I say, pushing myself up and walking away from her, sneaking past my sibling to steal the first bottle of alcohol I could find.
If she were here, she'd most likely reprimand me for drowning my sorrows in alcohol, but she wasn't here. She would never be here. I can never ask her how many days until Mardi Gras and then follow it up with how many days until our anniversary and watch her fumble. I could never again wake up with her in my arms or go to sleep like that.
I didn't think I would ever be happy again.
End of flashback
Morrigan Brooks
Flashback to 1759
ELIJAH had his arm wrapped around me and I was cuddled into him as we, and the rest of the Mikaelsons- well the undaggered and not psychotic ones, were sitting around the coffee table together, sharing a rare moment of undisturbed tranquillity.
"And, remind me, Mor, how long did it take for Elijah to admit his feelings?" Kol asks with a shit-eating grin and I smack my lips, pretending to think.
"Well, if my arithmetic is correct, almost a hundred years." I laugh and he raises his glass to his brother.
"So much for taking what you want," he says and Elijah rolls his eyes.
"I was playing the long game," he quips, causing everyone to erupt into laughter.
"Well, the long game definitely paid off," I say, leaning up to peck his lips. "What is the time?" I ask, suddenly remembering I had a wedding tomorrow.
"It's still early, only 11.30," Rebekah says, looking at the grandfather clock behind me, and I sigh, thinking how the next day could not come soon enough.
"Don't get antsy, Brooks," Nik says. "And don't elope secretly just so you can get it over and done with."
"Don't worry about that. I am so excited for a day all about me." I say, my hands not being able to sit still. "And Elijah. Of course."
"Of course," Nik says facetiously and I roll my eyes.
"Make fun all you want, there is nothing keeping me out of that dress."
End of flashback
How on earth does Elijah monopolise every single one of my thoughts? I have never been this caught up in a past relationship, but somehow, he invaded my mind and doesn't leave.
"Rory!" Eliza says, snapping me out of yet another spiral.
"Hmm?" I ask and she rolls her eyes.
"You need to either hook up with someone else and get him out of your head, or you need to make up with him. I'm serious, I've never seen you like this."
"But... what would that say? That I'm just forgiving him for everything just because I miss him?"
"No. Definitely not. Tell him that, but also I think you should let him state his case." She shrugs, scraping the remnants of her granola. "He's quite obviously in love with you. Remember when we went to the Salvatore's place for the dinner party where they daggered him? I could see it. I thought we were going to have to give you two a moment, like holy shit."
"But I hate him," I say, trying to convince myself. "I really really hate him."
"But you don't, Rory. You don't. I've seen it." Eliza says, turning her whole body towards me. "Rory, I promise, I promise you'll be okay again but I really don't think, he a: meant to hurt you, but b: I think he should be able to explain why he didn't tell you. I mean, there must be a reason."
"I understand why he didn't tell me, it's just annoying." I huff and she shrugs slowly.
"Maybe you should go talk to him... It could be beneficial to both of you."
"But I just got here," I uttered and she rolls her eyes.
"You don't have to go, I just think-" she starts but before she finishes I groan loudly.
"Fucking fine, Elizabeth, I'll go hear him out," I grumbled, twisting my body to face plant into her pillows.
"You should also put on a lower-cut top," she jeers. "Let him know what he's been missing."
"You're funny." I deadpan. "I get that you're desperate to get rid of me, but I'll go tomorrow morning."
AFTER I had said a temporary goodbye to Emilie, Henry, and Eliza, I was in the air, needing the extra flight time to figure out what I was going to say.
Sure, I was still pretty mad at him, but I couldn't go much longer without seeing him.
I know it sounded strange, but after a while, the flashes of memories stopped and it felt like the time without them had been a really long dream of what my life would be like without the Mikaelsons, but mostly, without Elijah, and now that the dream was over, I just wanted him.
It was a strange feeling, but that was the only way I could describe it.
The flight was seven hours, and we were down to the last twenty minutes, and a tiny immature part of me wished that the plane would crash right into the Atlantic Ocean.
When it did finally touchdown, safely, I took my time collecting my bags and collecting my car, allowing for the hour-long drive back to the supernatural town of Mystic Falls to be full of contemplation.
I still didn't know what I would say to Elijah, nor did I trust myself not to sweep it all under the rug as soon as I saw him, so I planned to avoid him like the plague for at least a day.
My first stop was my house, seeing as I had all my stuff in my car still.
Offloading the bags, I walked into my library and cleared a table and placed a world map on it, pouring black sand into the middle of it.
"Harenae deducet me ad eum," I mutter, looking for Elijah. I watch as the sands move towards the United States and then crowd around Virginia.
Why on earth would he stick around?
I got my map of Mystic Falls and did the same spell on that, and the sands went to the northwestern corner, making my brows furrow.
I didn't think about how much I was fixated on the whereabouts of him as I got my map of the US, doing the exact same thing for that.
"Harenae deducet me ad eum," I mutter and it creates a circle around Richmond.
At least I didn't bump into him when I was there.
I thought about what I could do while putting away all my shit.
"Long time no see," Damon says as he answers my call.
"You can't see me," I say and I could practically hear his eye roll. "Where are you?"
"The Lockwoods," he drawls. "It's the Miss Mystic pageant."
"Why are you at a pageant?" I drawled, suspecting the answer started with an E and ended with Lena.
"I'm keeping an eye on this guy who seems to know everything about anything. Do you know of an Atticus Shane?" He asks.
"No. Should I?"
"Probably not. He's the most boring person on earth," Damon sighs. "So where have you been? You freaked out in the Grill, like Ror, you've got a good set of lungs, and no one's heard from you since. Apparently, Elena even asked Elijah and he just didn't answer."
"Oh, yeah, Elijah and I broke up, but I've been in London. I saw Eliza and Emilie Gilbert, you know, a weird coincidence I'll tell you about later. The whole gang is back though."
"Don't forget Viv, you two were tight back in the day," Damon chimes, reminding me of Vivienne Fell and I sigh in reminiscence.
"Yeah, I remember Viv. Anyway, is this pageant open invite, because I could really use something to do."
"I could use your help. Stefan's acting crazy, which has somehow become the new norm and this creepy professor somehow convinced a goddamned, no pun intended, pastor to blow up twelve people, though I just can't think of the why."
Holy shit, how on earth has this town not been swallowed whole yet?
"Yeah, I'll be there soon, thirty minutes tops," I say.
"Wear something pretty," he chimes and I roll my eyes.
"Always do," I say, matching his tone before hanging up.
My hair was already straightened from the day before, so I just needed to do my make up and pick a dress, though I already had an idea.
I did a simple, natural look with a copper-coloured dress. It was knee length with a small slit and spaghetti straps, scrunched in the right places.
I scrambled to get my shoes on and drove over to the Lockwood estate, seeing it decked to the nines.
As I walked from the parking lot to the main garden, where everyone was gathered, I could hear Caroline making a speech.
"-Hi everyone, I'm Caroline Forbes. As the reigning Miss Mystic Falls, it is my honour to introduce this year's Miss Mystic Court," she says, gesturing to the competitors. Everyone applauds as I make my way to Damon, who had his back to me. "We begin the procession with Valerie Fell, accompanied by Dylan Clark," she says, allowing everyone to applaud again.
As I made my way towards the older Salvatore, I see he was staring at someone. Elena, who is staring back, creating thick sexual tension. I must have missed something, because isn't she with Stefan?
I walk up silently next to him and just watch the procession for another five seconds before he realises I was there.
"Rory, finally," he says with a smile on his face and I smile, giving him a one-armed hug.
"Nice to see you too, Damon," I chuckle. "So, where's this creepy guy?"
"Right after this I'll show you, but no doubt you can pick him out of the crowd," he whispers in a low tone and my brows furrow.
"Why? Is he supernatural?"
"No, he's greasy." He deadpans, making me quietly snort in laughter.
The rest of the contestants come down the stone stairs, and they start dancing, and I could see Damon and Elena sneaking glances at each other throughout the duration of it.
Damon 'excuses himself', though I doubt that is what it could be considered, and walks over to Caroline and Elena. I didn't want to go through the whole 'where have you been' thing again, so I just tapped into my hearing.
"Do the math. Emo teen, open bar, it's fine." Damon drawls.
"Matt said Jeremy's been having nightmares about killing vampires and he's been keeping it from me," Elena says worriedly.
"Relax, I'm sure it's fine," Damon said. He usually had an incredibly laid-back attitude, but even this was seeming slightly out of character.
"I don't know, I have a bad feeling," Elena says, turning back to Caroline, but Damon pulls her attention back.
"If I'm not worried, you shouldn't be worried. Let it go," he says nodding to both the girls. "Rory and I will go look for him."
Why in the world did he just enlist me to go look for a drunk teenager?
"Rory?" Caroline exclaims, and I turn my back, cursing Damon for making me return so public. Sure, I came to a public event, but I intended to avoid everyone.
"Ok," Elena says, and Damon walks back over to me, and as soon as he does I punch his arm as hard as I deemed necessary.
"Ow! What was that for?" He exclaims but I just cross my arms.
"I'm here to kill some professor since you don't have the balls to do it yourself, not look for some drunk teenager."
"Jeremy's a hunter, not just some teenager." He hisses through his teeth and my eyes widen.
"Like... one of the five or a self-proclaimed one?" I ask tentatively.
"One of the five. What do you know about them?"
"Not much, just that they became a thing right around the time vampires were created and they have a mark that leads them to something," I shrug.
"Yeah, well we found out that that mark leads to a cure for vampirism." He confirms and my eye bulge, not believing him.
"Bullshit," I whisper and he shrugs.
"It's alleged because there's no actual proof, but yeah, a cure." He says and I blow out a breath I had been holding.
I started to pace within one square metre and when I turned back to where Damon was standing previously with Elena and Caroline, I saw none other than Klaus.
"What is he doing here?" I hiss and Damon looks over to him before turning back to me.
"I don't know. Why does he ever do anything? Why do you care, I thought the two of you were tight?"
"Not anymore. Can we go look for your drunk hunter, please?" I mutter and he nods, snaking an arm across my shoulders, leading me away from everyone else.
WE don't end up looking for Jermey, since Stefan had him the whole time, so now Damon and I were sitting in silence, drinking champagne.
"Who are you staring at?" I ask after following his line of sight to a girl in a cute red dress, who I quickly realised was a werewolf, and a guy, probably early to mid-thirties.
"Professor creepy and Tyler Lockwood's date," he mutters in an undertone. I study the professor to see, magically or otherwise, nothing to suggest anything malicious or crazy, though a lot of nutty people look perfectly fine.
Tyler, speak of the devil, walks over and Damon stands up, stopping him.
"Oh hey, how do those two know each other?" He asks and Tyler looks over to the pair.
"They don't. Paranoid much?" The hybrid quips.
"The council just got burned to a crisp, some mysterious hunter blows through town, and this guy just happens to know everything about everything. Yes. Paranoid." He says, answering the original question.
"I've got to go. Hey Rory," he says nodding to me as he passes and I raise my glass towards him.
"Hey, Tyler."
Damon groans in frustration and I look over to see the professor getting up to leave.
"Okay. That's it. Let's go talk to him," Damon says, and I was excited since I suspected we would be doing a bit more than talking.
We stalk up to the Lockwood house where he was going, and we turn into the room he was in.
"Oh, you again. And you brought a friend," the professor says but I say nothing, opting to sit on a table and spectate. "I must be the least intimidating mass murderer ever."
"You never gave me a name and it's kind of urgent," Dmaon says, abandoning niceties.
"Listen, there is no other name. Look, at any given time there are five hunters in existence. Most of them have no idea who they are or what their purpose is. That means finding more than one in a lifetime is next to impossible."
The professor tries to walk around Damon but he speeds around him, so he's back in front of him.
"Subtle," he laughs nervously but Damon tilts his head.
"Like you didn't already know," Damon has a crooked smile on his face, or something I like to call his 'I'm going to murder you and I'll make it obvious to you' face. "You have five seconds to give me a name, or you die."
"Since it's unwise for a vampire to seek out a hunter, you're interested in the mark, and that's probably because of where it leads, but here's the thing: Even if you complete the mark and get the map, the thing you're looking for is sealed with a spell that only a certain kind of witch can perform"
It took me a second to realise it, but when it dawned on me, it took Damon a bit more time. That must be why this creepy guy was so interested in Mystic Falls.
"What kind of witch?" The vampire asks and the professor eggs him on.
"Come on, Damon," he says, but Damon grabs the pressure point on his arm, causing the professor to falter and grunt.
"I love pressure points," he says with a slight laugh. "What kind of witch?"
"Come on, you're a big boy, you can figure this out," the professor says as if he wanted to die, but I intervene because this whole thing was boring me.
"Damon," I say and he turns to me, still holding onto the professor's arm. I give him a look and it finally dawns on him.
"A Bennett witch," he says, turning back to the professor.
"Aren't too many of those lying around, as I'm sure you know, so none of this matters until Bonnie is in touch with her magic, and between the two of us who do you think she trusts to help her get there?"
Damon finally lets go of the professor's arm and he takes a step back from the vampire. "Five seconds are up. Unless you just realised you need me alive. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a scholarship to award."
He walks out, not looking at me as he goes past and I resist the urge to trip him.
"Can't we kill him? I'm like ninety per cent sure there are other Bennett witches," I groan but Damon shakes his head.
"None that I trust," he mutters. "Come on Ror, let's go get drunk," he says and I hop off the table, obliging happily.
"So. What's up with you and Elena?" I say in an insinuating tone and he rolls his eyes.
"Nothing." He affirms and I raise a brow.
"Sure. So all of today was you not making really thick sexual tension?"
"What happened with you and Elijah?" He asks, effectively shutting me up.
I WOKE up to the sound of birds, nature, and my phone.
"What?" I say, picking up the call without even checking the Caller ID.
"Good morning to you too, Ror," Damon says on the other side. "I was just calling to see if you wanted to come to New Orleans with me and Stefan. We could use a second opinion of a witch."
New Orleans. Where I was supposed to get married. Where everything fell apart.
"Uh, yeah. When are you leaving?" I say, keeping my voice steady.
"An hour. Pack light, we'll only be there for a few days."
"I'll meet you at yours in an hour, Damon," I say in a sing-song voice, springing from my bed, ready for a trip down nostalgia road.
a/n: Eliza's the number one morlijah shipper