Morrigan Brooks
Flashback to 1450
I was tense. I was rarely tense these days, but today, that was all I felt.
I had been running with the Mikaelson's for almost a decade, but this was the first time I was ever attending a formal ball.
They had hosted as many as they had been invited to, but I always avoided them, opting to be reduced to the Mikaelson's on-call witch and not be well known as they themselves are.
I doubt anyone really knows what I look like, which I was perfectly fine with. In fact, I was more than fine with it. I preferred the air of anonymity around me since that way, no one would, or could, bother me.
Paris was beautiful, and the Mikaelsons, as usual, lived a life of luxury and excess, meaning I did too.
"Are you nervous at all?" Rebekah says as she walks into my room. I had noticed how she glided, almost as if her feet didn't even touch the ground.
Not that I was taking notes.
"Uh, not really," I say, my voice climbing in pitch, indicating my mistruth.
"Stay by my side and I promise you will be the belle of the ball," she says and I give her a look.
"Unlikely, but I appreciate the vote of confidence."
"Are you really that nervous?" She says, creasing her eyebrows as she walks over and takes my hair in her hands and starts to put it up in a nice updo.
"Wouldn't you be?" I say truthfully. "Can you think back to your first ball? Any pointers?"
"Don't look up," she says with a small laugh, but when I turn my head to figure out what on earth she is talking about, she just shakes her head, muttering something about an inside joke. "Mor, we're hosting, so you have nothing to worry about."
"I know you say that, but I genuinely cannot stop thinking about tripping on my dress, or spilling my drink on someone."
"You can borrow my brother's pants if you don't want to trip," she jokes and I roll my eyes. "And did you forget you are a witch? Just magic something up."
"Magic what up, exactly?" I ask rhetorically. "An unspillable drink?"
"You're a smart girl, Mor, I'm sure you can think of something." Rebekah keeps playing with my hair for a minute. "What is it you're really afraid of?" She asks and I have to consciously make the decision to not bite the insides of my cheeks.
"What if I make a complete fool of myself and mess up any social standing we have?"
"Is that it? You're worried about making a fool of yourself?" She asks incredulously but I nod slowly. "Ok, listen to me, Mor, I know this will sound slightly conceited, but everyone, and I mean everyone, is trying to get on our good side from whatever rumour they have heard, so even if you do make a fool of yourself, no one will think twice about it because you are on our good side."
"Are you sure?" I ask and she nods earnestly.
"Trust me. I have seen it happen time and time again."
"You're saying you had a witch on-demand before me?" I say with mock shock but she just rolls her eyes.
"You're my favourite," she says.
"Bet you say that to all the witches," I mutter and she whips her head toward me.
"I heard that."
"I'm sure you did," I mutter, still in a low tone.
"That too, Morrigan."
THE ball was less horrid than I expected, and just as Rebekah predicted, people were actually going out of their way to talk to me or do nice things for me, which I found particularly strange since I wasn't even a Mikaelson, but I didn't complain.
Every time a new song came on I watched as couples took to the floor and danced until the song came to its completion.
That was happening presently.
I had been asked to dance, sure, but I didn't even know how, and on top of that, I didn't think it would be a good idea for me.
Apparently I 'form attachments too quickly', according to Klaus.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself," I hear a familiar voice say beside me.
"I am, actually. What about you, Elijah, I haven't seen you take to the floor yet," I say with a coy smile. He looks at me from the side of his eye before scanning the crowd.
"If that's how you see it, Ms Brooks, may I please have this dance?" He asks, presenting his hand to me but I just laugh, my eyes flitting to the ground.
"I don't dance," I say simply but he just laughs.
"I said that once. Come, my dear Morrigan. I will teach you," he says and with an eye roll, I take his hand, letting him lead me out to the dance floor.
I tried my best not to focus on how his hands gripped me with just enough pressure. I tried my best not to focus on the placement, or how he looked at me with such tenderness.
"Just follow my lead," he says and I do, swaying to the rhythm of the music, going where he goes, leading him the other way.
I decided I liked dancing. Not with just anyone, though, I liked dancing with Elijah.
It wasn't as though I thought about him in a romantic way or anything, it's just that he was an amazing partner who was able to guide me smoothly when I thought my feet would fall out from under me.
"How are you feeling, Morrigan?" He asks in a whispered tone and in response, I give him a smile.
"Good. Happy. You know, for once," I say simply, and to that he just smiles.
"I'm glad."
End of flashback
from Katherine: Meet me in Willoughby, where I took you. the gazebo. 2 pm
I groaned into Elijah's chest, my blissful memory of us being ripped away.
"Sorry babe, but we're going on a fun to Pennsylvania," I say flatly.
Elijah just presses a kiss to the top of my head before rolling me off of him and getting out of bed.
"We should get on the road, then. We don't want to be late," he says and I say the exact phrase at the exact time he does.
"You're too predictable," I say in a bored voice.
He just hums in agreement.
Flashback to 1759
"Get up," I hear a hard voice say over the ringing in my ears. "No one is coming to help you."
Why wasn't Elijah with me?
A foot pressed to my shoulder, pushing my onto my back.
"Get up, Morrigan. Show me the reason we named you that." Father says, but my only concern was Elijah. Did Theodore find a way to kill the originals and he was only coming after me now because they were all neutralised?
Phantom queen. Goddess of war. A fighter. Worthy.
I didn't feel like fighting. If my fears turned out true, I didn't want to continue.
"Pathetic," he says. "No last words? I built you into what you are today, Morrigan, and you threw me aside like waste. I'm only here to pay my dues."
"I built me," I grind out. "Just because you can't control me anymore, doesn't mean you built me."
"Ungrateful child," he spits, holding me down with his foot. "Sometimes I wish I said goodbye to my pearl, but then I see what you've turned into and I see that she died a long time ago."
"You killed her," I say through grinding teeth and he just gives me a menacing smile.
"And I'll happily kill you," he says, and before I could question the wording of his statement, he reaches out and twists my neck, effectively snapping it.
End of flashback
I loathed Pennsylvania, it was just so bland, and I was beginning to think Elijah hated me because there is no way you make someone you love go to Willoughby Pennsylvania.
When we entered the town, it seemed quieter than I thought would be possible, but it was as if every inhabitant were zombified.
"This is... charming," Elijah mutters, holding my hand.
"I'd stake myself if I ever had to live here," I mutter and a hint of a smile crept onto Elijah's lips.
"I'll whisk you away. Maybe we'll go back to New Orleans?" He says and I nod.
"I'm just imagining the beignets," I mumble, practically drooling at the thought.
We walk through the little town for the next five minutes until it hits two o'clock, which is when we make our way to the town square.
"Let's just get this over and done with," I mutter while Elijah doesn't answer verbally, he holds me tighter.
"Katerina," Elijah says when we get to the gazebo. We look to see Katherine in a rare dress. Don't get me wrong, it was cute, but a very different vibe was being given off. It was even floral. She was pacing, looking extremely nervous and had a surprising new haircut.
Maybe she embraced this town. I'll have to snap her out of it.
"Elijah? Ror- Morrigan." She says, almost as if the breath was knocked out of her. She straightens her stance before continuing. "You two are a little late."
"Traffic," I say simply, though it was a lie. "Love the hair, it's very... punk rock meets teenage girl. Are you finally embracing your doppelganger status?"
"Am I-" she starts, sounding slightly off still, and that was when I got suspicious. No witty comeback?
"I'm kidding, K. Why are you so stressed? You're usually the one who's late."
"I'm just anxious to get back," she exhales shakily. I see a hint of movement and look down to see her fiddling with a vaguely familiar ring. Lapis Lazuli as well.
I look to her left wrist, then the right and I realise that that isn't Katherine, and it is in fact, Elena.
At the same time, I think Elijah realises this too because we share a look before I get behind her.
"Where's the cure?" Elijah asks, his voice not menacing yet.
"It's in a safe place," she says in a tone that is quite close to Katherine's. I wouldn't lie. After getting over the initial shock of seeing us, which I now realise was why she was acting strange, she was quite good at the imitation game. Too bad we were better at finding shit out. You could basically call me Nancy Drew. "Why don't I go and get it? And then I'll bring it back," she finishes but Elijah catches her arm before she can walk away too far.
"Where's Katherine Elena?" He asks and her face reflects that of a deer in headlights.
She doesn't answer for a second, she just stutters a half-assed answer before composing herself.
"In good company," she says slowly and I just roll my eyes, sick of the bullshit.
"Come on," I say nodding my head in the direction we came from.
She paused for a second, assessing whether or not I was going to kill her, which I wasn't, but listening to the rational part of her brain, she walked with me without any protest.
We walked for a minute before finding a cozy alley to stop in and sort of hold Elena hostage, though she wasn't fighting at all and she just looked bored.
"Switch still flipped?" I ask and she just gives me a flat look.
"Duh," she drawls. "If it wasn't I would be trying to stop Stefan and Damon from shoving the cure down my throat instead of going for the more... proactive approach."
"Proactive?" I laugh. "And what's that?"
"I was thinking maybe I'll sell it on eBay," she says in the same flat tone.
"No humanity Elena is kind of funny," I say, standing up and leaving her where she was.
I hear Elijah's phone ringing and look over to see that Katherine is calling.
"Katerina," he says but I hear a response I wasn't anticipating.
"Hello, Elijah," Stefan says on the other line. Elijah pauses for a split second before collecting his surprise.
"Where is Katherine?" He asks and I note the change of name.
"Where's Elena?" Stefan counters.
"Safe," Elijah says flatly. "How long she remains so depends upon you," he finishes. I looked to Elena who was sitting on the curb, completely fine, and while I wasn't stupid, he definitely would kill Elena if situations became drastic, but I also knew that Elijah had a sort of... soft spot for the doppelganger.
I knew it was an unbroken cycle, but I genuinely found the allure of the doppelganger so interesting, seeing as I have felt it as well, though not on the same level.
"Well, I guess the same goes for Katherine," Stefan says. Laughable.
"Oh, Katherine can take care of herself against the two of you," Elijah says, voicing my thoughts but Stefan contradicts the statement.
"Oh you mean the three of us?" He says and I roll my eyes at the thought of then getting someone else in on their drama. "Your little sister decided to join team good guys for the time being."
Rebekah? What did she want with the cure? Surely she didn't want to take it herself.
Elijah's expression turns stony. "Put her on the phone," he says.
"Oh she's not here right now, I left her with Damon and Katherine. " Stefan says and I sigh at the thought of the wild goose chase we were about to go on with an annoyed-humanity-less baby vampire in tow.
"Tell me where they are," Elijah demands.
"Relax. No one's gonna get hurt as long as Katherine hands over the cure," the Salvatore says, getting immensely bold.
"Do you understand how much my sister despises Katherine?" Elijah says through clenched teeth. "I assure you, Rebekah will end her as soon as she ceases to be on use."
"Well, just tell me where you are and we can talk this through," Stefan said.
"You listen to me very carefully, Stefan," Elijah starts, his voice becoming dangerous, which is very hot. "If anything whatsoever happens to Katherine I will descend apon Elena," he finishes and doesn't let Stefan reply before hanging up.
"I'm going to go talk to him. Maybe force where they are out of him." I say, starting to walk away.
"What?" Elena says. Not in a concerned tone, but judgier. More... Katheine.
"You think Katherine would tell us where she lived?"
"Couldn't you just magic it up?" She asks and I shrug.
"Maybe, but this is more fun," I say, speeding away.
IT doesn't take me long to find Stefan. In fact, he wasn't more than a block away, but he didn't look particularly happy.
"Hey Stef," I say and he whips his head around, but his shoulders relax when he sees me.
"Are you here to send the message again?" He asks in a flat tone. "I get it, Elijah wants Katherine alive."
"No, I just want to know what you plan on doing with the cure once you get it?" I ask slowly and he gives me an incredulous look.
"I'm going to give it to Elena," he says, as if it were obvious.
"Elena doesn't want it, Stefan. I've been with the girl for ten minutes, I haven't even exchanged fifty words with her and I can tell, she doesn't want it."
"She's got her humanity off," Stefan scoffs. "She was never meant to be a vampire."
"Neither were you. Neither was I, but here we are," I say. "Where are they, Stefan?"
"She doesn't want to be a vampire," he says with a tone of finality before speeding away.
I let him get a few blocks before following him.
"No!" I hear him say. I speed to the door just in time to see Rebekah gag and collapse.
"Bekah?" I ask from the doorway. I put a foot through the threshold to see that there wasn't a barrier, so I walked right through and ran to be by the original's side.
A million scenarios ran through my head but I knew Rebekah's one true wish in this life- that she is able to have a family of her own.
I couldn't fault her for that.
Not even a minute later, Rebekah's eyelashes fluttered open.
"How are you feeling?" I ask and she looks around the room for a second before a genuine smile grows on her face.
"I feel... I feel good, I- I feel great. I feel alive." She says with a tone of pure joy and there was no way I could be mad at her.
"Slight problem with being alive," Damon starts. "I can kill you now," he says before flinging what appeared to be a letter opener straight at her face, and before I could put my hand out to catch it, she beat me to it, keeping it from hitting her face with barely an inch to spare.
She slowly lowers her hand with a hurt expression on her face, revealing a cut on her hand from where she caught the utensil and we all watched it heal right before our eyes.
"I'm still a vampire," she breathes, not even acknowledging the fact that Damon tried to strip her newly found life right as she got it. "The cure didn't work," she says, seeming to become short of breath.
"It worked just like she wanted it to," Stefan muttered, I assume referring to Katherine. "The cure was a fake. It must have been a concentrated shot of vervain or something."
"Katherine," Damon sighs, almost a defeated laugh in his voice.
IT was dark as I watched Katherine walk up to an extremely boring-looking house, not too dissimilar to her own.
A redhead girl answered the door at Katherine's knock. "Katherine, hey, what brings you by at this hour?" She asks and I can tell that the doppelganger doesn't even bother to plaster on a fake smile.
"I came to retrieve my package," she said.
"Oh, of course," the girl says easily. "Like I said, your secret is safe here." She goes back into her house and comes back out a minute later, passing Katherine a tiny little box, one that you usually keep necklaces.
I didn't have to guess what was inside.
"Hey, uh, all the secrecy. Can I ask? What is it?" The girl asks nervously.
"It's my freedom," she says solemnly.
"Come," I said to the original next to me. "She'll find us within no time."
I grab his hand and speed away with him.
We get to the main street and start walking, hand in hand before the familiar click of expensive heels graces our ears.
"And to think neither of you had faith in me," Katherine says with a coy look.
"What do you want?" Elijah asked. He told me about what happened with Jeremy Gilbert and while I was never the biggest fan of the youngest Gilbert, it was a shame.
"Just take it. I've spent way too much of my life running from my problems, lying and trying to survive, I-" She cuts herself off. "Just take it. That's my end done."
"A deal is a deal," I say, taking the box from her. "We'll see you soon, K," I say and she gives me a tight but warm smile.
"See you soon. Both of you," she said, and with that, she sped off into the night, maybe back to her granny cottage.
I tuck the cure in Elijah's breast pocket and he moves it to the one on the inside of his jacket. I press a brief kiss to his lips before flitting my eyes to the blonde about thirty paces to my right.
"I'll leave you two to talk," I say and his brows furrow in confusion before he sees what I mean.
I give Rebekah a small wave and smile, which she returns before her face turns stony to face Elijah, and I decide to give them actual privacy and wait in the car for him to finish.
Even though I didn't mean to pry, I got the gist.
Rebekah wasn't about to let anyone, much less Klaus get the cure. She wanted it, and while Elijah was the one who held it, Rebekah knew well in her heart that Elijah had a soft spot for both of them in a different way, so she would have to fight for it, as she had had to do for everything else in her life.
I had always viewed Rebekah as my sister. She and I were meant to have met, our souls were intertwined. I felt strongly about all of the Mikaelson's but my bond with Rebekah was... different. Maybe it was because we met first, maybe it was because neither of us had ever had a sister we could talk to or maybe we just got each other.
Rebekah soon gets in the car, in the driver's seat, leaving Elijah to get into the back seat which made me internally giggle.
"-Somebody had to take charge," Elijah was saying on the phone, I assumed to his brother, as he got into the car. "Now that I have, I've got the cure and I'm bringing it back to Mystic Falls."
"With a long list of demands, I assume," I hear Klaus say, but Elijah just sighs as he climbs into the car.
"Not that long," he says simply.
"Come home, brother," Klaus says in his usual persuasive tone. "We'll settle this like family."
Elijah puts his phone away and Rebekah starts the engine, finally driving us away from Willoughby.
hey guys, i'm so sorry i haven't updated in like two months, but i'm hoping to get a few more chapters done as soon as i can xx