*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*..*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
"𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝"
*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*..*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*
New Orleans, 1917
"Rebekah, I need your help." Azalea walked into Rebekah's room.
"Yes, Aza?" She asked her.
"What color dress should I wear for the party? Light blue or maroon?"
"I always did like maroon on you," Rebekah commented, "but we don't want it looking like a funeral, so blue. Bring the dress here and I'll help you. We don't have that long until guests begin to arrive."
"Alright. Just a second." She vamp-sped back to her room, grabbing the dress and returning to Rebekah.
"Gorgeous." She smiled, standing up and walking towards her friend. "Too bad you won't be able to wear it."
"What are you talking ab-" Azalea started, before Rebekah snapped her neck.
"Were the dramatics really necessary, sister?" Klaus walked into the room.
"You of all people should understand that it was, brother." Rebekah turned to him. "Couldn't we've just compelled her not to do anything?"
"She'd decided she had enough of the compulsion and began to wear vervain in bracelets and necklaces about a month ago." He informed his sister. Rebekah let out a soft 'Oh'.
✿
Azalea woke up with a start, sitting up quickly. She looked around Rebekah's room, to see Elijah sitting in a chair, waiting for her to wake up. "What happened?"
Elijah sighed. "Unfortunately, Kol had plans for the demise of our dear brother Niklaus, I just have one question..."
"What did you do?" Azalea questioned, now panicking just a little.
"...Did you know?"
Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You think I'd be involved in a plot to kill my best friend?"
"Kol tends to implement you to his little schemes. Now, answer me. Did you know?" Elijah stood up.
"I had no idea. What did you do to him?" Azalea stood up as well.
"Truthfully, Azalea." He pushed.
"What did you do to him?" She said, more angrily this time.
"We put a dagger in his heart." Klaus interrupted from the doorway. That only made her even more angry.
"You what?" She roared, mostly at Klaus. "How could you?"
"It was quite simple, really. All I had to do was get Elijah to hold his arms while I stabbed the dagger into his heart." Klaus reminisced, amused by the scene unfolding before him.
She looked between the two brothers, obviously mad, before trying to leave to room. Klaus stopped her. "If you're going to try and undagger him, I wouldn't suggest it. I have Rebekah making sure you don't meddle."
She pushed Klaus back with a tremendous force, but before she could even turn away, he was back in front of her. He looked angry now. "You can either leave Kol be or die."
"I'd rather die than have to go another century without him again." She narrowed her eyes. He clenched his jaw, looking away from her for just a second, before turning back to her and grasping her heart. That caused her to inhale sharply.
"You know," she started, weakly. "When I, when I first turned. You said that, that you said you knew how it felt to care about someone as he does I, and I do him. That was a lie."
"That's enough, Niklaus." Elijah stepped in, causing Klaus to pull his hand back, luckily without a heart in it. Azalea doubled over and began to cough as soon as he released her. "I'll handle this."
Klaus turned in his heel and walked away, not sparing another glance.
"Go ahead, Elijah. Are you gonna nobly murder me?" She muttered as he wound healed.
"No, but my brother, your friend, seems quite ready to do so. So, I've thought of a compromise."
"And what, prey tell, is that?" She looked up at him.
"To compel you." He said, ripping her vervain necklace from her throat. "What other vervain did you have on you?"
She backed away from him slowly. "Elijah, don't. You're my friend."
"Azalea, I am doing this to protect you. Take off the vervain." He said, looking down at her bracelet.
"I can't. I won't." She refused, her back hitting the wall. He looked sad.
"Azalea, I'm truly sorry." He grabbed her arm harshly and took the bracelet off.
"Elijah, please, no!" She pleaded, tears streaming down her face. He looked her in the eyes.
"You will leave New Orleans, and forget about all of us. All you will remember is you've spent your whole life traveling the world." He compelled, as the tears that ran down her face began to diminish.
She wiped the tears from her face, getting some blood on her face in turn. In the blink of an eye, Elijah had gone, and her memories of the Mikaelsons along with him.
✿
For the next century, Azalea settled down in various cities in Australia. In all her years, she had never been there. It was the place she felt most comfortable. That is, until she'd been in every city. It because boring. Aza remembered how much she loved America, so she moved back.
Not long into her stay, she received a call from an old friend.
"Damon. My least favorite one night stand, what can I do for you?" Azalea's slight Aussie accent rang out in the dark night as she answered her phone.
"Lea, I called to ask for a favor." Damon got straight to business. How unusual of him.
"Well, spit it out."
"We need help with this guy named Elijah. He's basically unkillable."
"Never heard the name. Continue." She told the younger vampire, checking her nails idly.
"Apparently, he's an original vampire, but there's something worse to come. You were the only backup I tolerate enough to call." He grumbled, to which Azalea let out a short laugh.
"Did the Damon Salvatore just imply that he tolerates me?" She gasped in mock surprise.
"Can it, Italy. How quick can you get to Virginia?" Damon asked.
"I'm in Tampa. Shouldn't take me more than a day to be there. I'm in."
"See ya, Italy." He concluded.
"Later, asshole." She responded, hanging up the phone and shaking her head, what did she just agree to? That was a question she'd only find out later.
She got on a plane the next morning, traveling from Tampa to Washington DC, and driving the rest of the way to Mystic Falls. She parked her car in the driveway of the house Damon gave her the address to, getting out of the car and knocking. Damon answered almost immediately.
"Italy! Come in, come in!" Damon exclaimed.
"You're chipper. Who're you plotting against?" She stepped into the house, slightly surprised she didn't have to be invited in. He clicked his tongue at her as he closed the door.
"Oh, no, I'm just excited for the historical societies tea party later this evening." Damon looked over at his other friend.
"Tea party, what are you, a five year old girl?"
"I really don't want to go, but our guest of honor will be there. care to join?" He offered to her.
"Why not. I'd love to meet this Elijah." Azalea accepted.
"Great. Oh, by the way, Lea, this is Ric." Damon gestured to his friend, who only waved.
"Nice to meet you, Ric. I'm Lea." She smiled at him, before turning back to Damon. "So, where's my room?"
✿
Carol Lockwood eventually invited Azalea in after a charming smile and a quaint introduction. "Well, I've got to go mingle, but have fun meeting people." Carol politely exited from their conversation.
Damon came up behind her. "I'm impressed."
"You shouldn't be. I've had nearly 900 years to learn." She looked back at Damon, who'd also just entered the house.
"Fair enough." She smiled as they began to walk through the house. She saw a man in a suit talking to Carol.
"That's Elijah?" She whispered to Damon.
"Bingo."
"Damon, what are you doing here?" A woman about the same height as Azalea with light brown hair walked up to the two, stopping almost right in front of her.
"Hi, you came." Another girl came up to Damon, giving him a quick kiss.
"Thanks for introducing us, Jenna." Damon nodded towards the other girl, before walking away, with Azalea in tow.
"Do you just compel all the girls in town to worship you?" She asked, with a small smile.
"Ha ha." Damon responded sarcastically as they walked up to Carol and Elijah.
"Damon." Carol said, clearly unaware he was gonna show up. "What a surprise."
"Carol." Damon greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
"Hi. Elijah, I want you to meet Damon Salvatore, his family is one of Mystic Falls founding families, and Lea...?" Carol looked over with a questioning glance.
"Lea Rivers." She lied, using the name she told Damon so long ago. No one there knew who she was, and she wanted to keep it that way. Elijah had a slightly surprised looked on his face, but her quickly masked it with a smile.
"Such a pleasure to meet you." Damon had narrowed eyes at Elijah.
"No, the pleasure's mine." Elijah shook Damon's hand.
Later, Elijah, Damon, and Azalea enter the study.
"What can I do for you, Damon?" Elijah asked hands in his pockets.
"I was hoping we could have a word." Damon told him.
"Where's Elena?" Elijah asked.
"Safe with Stefan. They're laying low, you know, bit of a werewolf problem." Damon explained. Azalea remembered him telling her about his ripper brother.
"Oh, yeah, I heard about that."
"I'm sure you did since it was your witch that saved the day." Damon said.
"You are welcome." Elijah looked up at him. Damon sat down on the desk.
"Which adds to my confusion on exactly why you're here." Damon told him, implying for him to spill his guts.
"Why don't you just stay focused on keeping Elena safe and leave the rest to me." Elijah moved to exit the room, but Damon vamp-sped in front of him, blocking the way out.
"Not good enough." Elijah grabbed Damon by the throat and vamp-sped him into a wall. Damon, in retaliation, grabbed Elijah's throat. Azalea sighed pushing herself off of the wall, swaggering towards the two. Elijah grabbed Damon's hand and easily pulled it off of his neck, making sure to crush Damon's hand as he does so. Damon groaned in pain.
"You young vampires, so arrogant." Elijah dropped Damon's hand from his own, but continued to hold Damon up against the wall by the throat. "How dare you come in here and challenge me?"
"Elijah. If you care so much about this Elena, I suggest you not do anything you'll regret." She put a hand on his arm.
"You can't kill me, man. It's not part of the deal." Damon added.
"Silence." Elijah grabbed a pencil lying on the desk and stabbed Damon in the neck with it. Azalea cursed and ran over to Damon as he clutched at the pencil and yelled in pain. Elijah let go of him, letting him fell against the desk and allowed Azalea to remove the pencil, painfully. Damon clapped his hand over the bloody wound. Elijah whipped out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood off his hands.
"I'm an Original. Show a little respect." Elijah dangled the handkerchief in front of Azalea, who grabbed it hastily, and placed it on his wound.
"The moment you cease to be of use to me, you're dead, so you should do what I say. Keep Elena safe." Elijah instructed Damon, before leaving the room.
"What an asshole." Azalea muttered with a scowl.
✿
Azalea sat at the bar of the Mystic Grill, drinking a glass of scotch. "Azalea." She turned at her real name, to see Elijah.
"How did you know that?" She demanded as he sat down next to her. No one had heard her real name here. It was only a target on her back, these days.
"When did you start going by Lea Rivers? Azalea De Luca is much better in my opinion." He ranted.
"Nearly one hundred years ago. What do you know?" Her facial expression was serious.
"Remember." He compelled her. All the memories came suddenly back, like a flood. Her eyes widened at the sudden overload of memories.
"What the- Elijah? What did you do?" She looked back at the suited original.
"I saved you from Niklaus." He replied.
"You made me forget about you. About my best friends, about my lover of- of eight hundred years!" She looked betrayed. "You did not save me." She drank the rest of her scotch in one gulp, before standing up.
"Wait-" Elijah grabbed her shoulder. "I made you remember because of Niklaus."
"What about him?"
"I believe he's done something horrible to my siblings." This caused her to turn back around.
"Sounds like him. what happened?" She quirked an eyebrow. Her only true interest was in Kol. Her last memories of all the other siblings were positively sour.
"I speculate that he's put them somewhere we will never find them, dropped into the depths of the ocean." Azalea felt a pang in her chest.
"No. He- he wouldn't do that. Elijah he wouldn't!" Klaus was a monster, but he did care for them in his own fucked up way.
"Azalea..." Elijah started. She only shook her head.
"No, Elijah. He hasn't done that. I know he hasn't." She denied.
"How do you figure?" Elijah inquired.
"Because, in the eight hundred years I knew him, no matter how many times he's daggered each of you, he's done everything for the Mikaelsons." She snapped.
"Fine." He conceded, knowing he wasn't going to win thst fight. "At least join me for one final drink."
She let out a long sigh. "Only because you are gonna pay for it."
"Of course." He accepted as she sat down again. "Where did you go after you left New Orleans?" He changed the subject.
"After you forced me to leave, I went to Australia for ninety years." She added emphasis to the word forced. "Then I moved to Tampa Bay in Florida. Until I got a call about a pesky original named Elijah."
"I'm not exactly popular around here." Elijah sighed.
"Yes, I can tell." She chuckled as he ordered bourbon for the both of them. "I don't want to, but I have learned about second chances in my time away. So, I'll reluctantly forgive you."
He gave her a small smile and raised his bourbon glass. "To second chances."
"To second chances." She repeated, raising her glass as well. Unfortunately, the toast was meaningless. It wasn't in Azalea's nature to fully forgive someone who betrayed her like he had.
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