*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･..･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
"𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎𝚜"
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･..･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
After Kol's death, Azalea left New Orleans promptly. It just seemed easiest. To escape. At first, she had no idea where to go or what to do. She just drove. She drove for hours. It seemed there wasn't any place that didn't seem to remind her of her love in some way. Even going on a murder spree wouldn't help. That was basically half of their date nights through the years.
She'd received many calls, texts, and voicemails from Rebekah. Most went unanswered, as she knew that every notification would just be a plea for her to come back, that they would work through this together, that Kol would be back before she knew it. Though she cared for Rebekah, she couldn't handle constantly hearing about it. She only hoped that Bekah wouldn't resort to a tracking spell and drag her back to New Orleans.
In her long life, Azalea had barely ever lived on her own. For the century that she did, she wasn't aware of who she was missing. In leaving, the feeling was ever present. No Klaus, no Rebekah, no Elijah. Most importantly, no Kol. She tried so hard to shake that feeling. The piece of her that felt completely empty without him. It felt like losing a limb.
Azalea's constant reminder to herself was that she would learn to walk again. Something inside of her knew that wasn't true, though. That was the problem with loving someone so much. When you lose them, never in your life will you feel the same again.
She thought after the first time she lost him, it would be easy. She found that it was quite the opposite. Azalea De Luca had never felt more lost in her life. Vampires as old as her weren't given the chance to turn off their emotions anymore. It was supposed to be easier to handle the horrors of immortality. In Azalea's experience, that was not the case.
So what did she do to quell her overwhelming loss? Besides running from his family, she went home. Italian summers were always the best.
She hadn't been back to her home ever since she left. There was too much that she never wanted to face. Her brother's death. Her own death. Her mother's.
✿
Poland, 1172 A.D.
It was a night like any other. Everyone else was asleep, but Kol crept to Azalea's room in the middle of the night. Late nights were theirs. To talk, to sneak out and get into some trouble, to be intimate, to share secrets. Only this night, Kol happened to share the wrong one.
"You what?" Azalea had never been angrier. They laid in bed, Kol looking a little shocked at his own words. How could he slip up this bad? He had never slipped up like that. Azalea scrambled out from under the covers, never taking her eyes off of Kol. "You motherfucker! You were the one that killed my mother?"
It was nearly three in the morning, but she didn't care. Her rage outweighed any regard she would've normally had. Kol sat up, panicked. "It was before I knew you, Aza! I would've never done anything to you if I had, you know that!"
"I thought I knew a lot! Who all knows about this? Do they all know?" His siblings. It was a question she already knew the answer to. How could they not? His gaze was enough of an answer. Her hands balled into fists as tears stung her eyes. "The more I learn about you and your family, the more time I spend by your side, the more you continue to make a god damned fool out of me!"
Before Kol could respond, Rebekah came marching in, seemingly upset that her sleep was interrupted. "What in the hell is the matter with you two?"
Azalea's angry gaze moved to Rebekah, thin tear streaks glossing her cheeks. She pointed an accusatory finger at the other blonde. "You." Her voice was resentful and guttural. "You and your brothers knew what he did to my mother, and none of you had the decency to tell me!"
It was like she was right back in that bedroom staring at her brother's body again. All the raw emotions she had pushed away because the Mikaelson's "saved" her. By then, Elijah and Klaus joined Rebekah to see what all the ruckus was about. "I have done everything you wanted, just to be lied to!"
"I didn't lie to you." Kol stood up, making his way around the bed, holding a hand out towards her. Her livid stare moved back, her eyes warning him not to move any closer. "I only kept it from you because I made the mistake before I fell for you. I didn't expect to fall in love with you, Aza. Then, when I did, I didn't want to hurt you by telling you what I had done."
She let out a scoff. "Is that supposed to make me feel better? That you didn't expect to fall in love with me? I am so fucking lucky, aren't I?"
"Azalea, you're being irrational." Elijah's calm manner only seemed to piss her off more. How could he act like her mother's death wasn't a big deal?
Azalea let out a dry laugh, looking at him. "Am I, Elijah? Am I being too loud? Too angry at the man who killed my mother?! Shall I quiet down like a good, obedient woman would?"
"You know that isn't want I meant. We only—"
She growled in frustration. Why didn't they get it? "Shut up!"
"Aza, Elijah's right. You know this isn't you. You're being unreasonable. Let's just calm down and talk about this." Rebekah got closer, but Azalea backed up. The original understood her anger, given the emotional demeanor behind her own mother's death.
"Where do you think I got that from? Huh?" She yelled back, her back hitting the wall as she tried to distance herself from the people she usually would've called her friends. Her only family left. All eyes on her, all she could do was shut down.
Azalea's tears flowed relentlessly. She slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, feeling utterly betrayed. In that moment, she broke a vow she swore never to break.
She turned it all off.
✿
Italy, 2016 A.D.
Luckily, time healed her of those wounds. Now, her human life and younger years were nothing but misty memories. She held few close, only the ones that really mattered, like some early memories of the Mikaelsons, of falling in love with Kol, and of her family. Even her older brother. Alexander made some mistakes, but he was still her brother. He was just doing what he believed was just.
Azalea took a deep breath, walking the streets of a city that had been much simpler in her time. She'd obviously expected that everything would be different, but for some reason it was still strange. She'd have to find accommodations for the next few months, at least. She wanted something quaint. A hotel would do nicely until she could find a quiet place. After a quick search on her phone, she found one close by and off she went.
"Ciao! (hi!)" Azalea flashed a friendly smile at the older man behind the counter as she walked in. He returned the smile, sitting up a little straighter as she approached the counter. "Mi dispiace davvero chiederlo con così poco preavviso, ma avete qualche stanza disponibile per l'intera settimana? (I'm really sorry to ask on such short notice, but do you have any rooms available for the whole week?)"
The man didn't seem at all disturbed by the request. "Nessun problema! Mi faccia controllare quali sono le camere disponibili. (No problem at all! Let me check and see what rooms are available.)" His gaze turned from her to the computer screen in front of him, clacking away at the keyboard. "Sembra che abbiamo due camere disponibili per voi. Preferisce una suite o— (Looks like we have two rooms available for you. Would you like a suite or—)"
"Una suite sarebbe perfetta. (A suite would be perfect.)" Aza quickly nodded, grabbing her card and I.D. for the man. The I.D. was fake, of course, but she couldn't exactly be truthful with anyone about who she was. He seemed a little taken aback, but took the cards.
"Allora, cosa fai a Parma? Visita alla famiglia? (So, what are you doing in Parma? Visiting family?)" He asked, just making small talk as he typed in her information.
"Qualcosa del genere. Sono cresciuto qui. Me ne sono andato un po' di tempo fa, ma le circostanze recenti mi hanno riportato indietro. (Something like that. I grew up here. I left a while ago, but recent circumstances have pulled me back.)" She explained, tapping her foot quietly as she waited. The man nodded in understanding.
"Capisco. Ho lasciato casa dopo aver finito la scuola. Quasi quarant'anni fa. Ma non c'è posto come casa, giusto? (I understand. I left home after finishing school. Almost forty years ago. But there's no place like home, right?)" He said, his voice a little slow as he focused on putting her credit card information down.
"Perché ha deciso di tornare? Solo nostalgia di casa? (Why did you decide to come back? Just homesickness?)" Azalea tilted her head. He set her card down, shaking his head slowly.
"Purtroppo no. Mio fratello maggiore è morto. Avevo programmato di rimanere solo per il suo funerale, ma non potevo andarmene una volta tornato. (Sadly, no. My older brother passed away. I planned to only stay for his funeral, but I couldn't leave once I got back.)" He slid the cards back across the counter, giving her a kind smile despite what he just told her. "La vostra camera sarà pronta per voi alle 14:30. Vado a prendere la chiave e, nel frattempo, c'è qualche borsa da portare in camera? (Your room will be ready for you at 2:30. I'll go grab that key for you, and in the mean time, are there any bags you need taken to your room?)"
"No, grazie. (No, thank you.)"Azalea gave him a closed lip smile before he retreated to the back to get her room key. She looked around the lobby idly until he came back with a small key card, adorned with a nice picture of the horizon over Parma. "Grazie. Ci vediamo alle 14:30. (Thank you. I'll see you at 2:30.)"
Azalea left promptly, an idea popping into her head of the next place she needed to visit. The only place that she was sure would've remained undisturbed after nearly a millennia. Her brother's burial sight. Klaus gave him a proper burial with his sword upon Azalea's request. He laid in the middle of a circle of seven pillars that stood in the town for nearly a century before she was even born.
She found that now these pillars were overgrown and chipped away at by their many years of standing. A few had even broken in half. Azalea sat with her legs crossed near where she was sure they'd buried Alexander. "Hi, big brother."
She couldn't help but pick at the grass. Was this stupid? If he was a ghost, he would surely hate her. "I should've visited sooner. I'm sorry. Life just got so complicated, being with the Mikaelson's. If you were here you'd give me some smart ass response about how you knew that this would happen, and you were right. Yeah, you were right. Vampires suck."
Azalea couldn't help but let tears spill. "I didn't even get to say goodbye to you. God, I wish I could've said goodbye. I wish I could have one more conversation or fight with you. I wish we could've died together that night." She wiped her face, getting a bit of dirt on her cheek. She didn't care. "I'm so tired, Alexander. With everything in me, I wish you were here. I'd do anything."
She got onto her knees, bringing her forehead to the ground. As if it would help. Sad people did weird things. It took her a second to realize the ground was too soft. The dirt was too loose for a grave sight that shouldn't have been disturbed in 900 years. The grass was too thin and short. Someone had been here. There was only one family that knew what was buried under there.
Goddamn Mikaelson's.
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･..･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*