Eternal || Elijah Mikaelson

CXVI - A Thousand Ways

I'M SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE

SCHOOL RUINS MY LIFE

I'M SORRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

but hey there's fluff ;D

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Chapter One Hundred & Sixteen

While I did hate being stuck at the compound, I didn't mind being with Hope. She was an amazing little girl, that I truly did love and care about as if she were my own. It would seem that I might have to care for her more than usual, seeing how Klaus has done something unknown to Hayley. I would be talking to him about it later on, I had decided.

It bothered me to be away from the fight, because I could feel them, all four of them. I could feel their hearts beating and the anticipation in them as well as the anxiety. They were scared, and they had a right to be. I only wished I could help them.

I tried to keep my focus on Hope, who was currently sitting on a blanket near one of the tables in her mother's room. She usually would be giggling away while playing with her stuffed bunny, but she wasn't. Not tonight. It appeared that she almost had the same feeling as me. She knew that her mother and father were in trouble, along with her aunts and uncle. She knew that something was wrong.

She was right.

At one point, I could feel it intensified. They were in trouble, truly. Something was very, very wrong. Their essence was fading... They were dying.

I didn't know how I could help them. I was weak, I wouldn't be strong enough. It was less than a few minutes later that it faded, and I felt something new.

Somewhere in the city, a soul was being reunited with another. They both were fading, finally at peace. They weren't on the non-existent other side, and they weren't in the real world. They were dead, and they were happy.

Even though I did have this good feeling, I was still afraid. I was frightened. I was worried that they would never come back.

I swallowed a little, then held Hope slightly closer as she began to doze off.

I started thinking of Hayley too. Was she dead? Elijah had assured me she was alive, but what if he was wrong? What if she wasn't okay? she was all alone out there, away from her daughter and the people she now called her family.

I didn't have much longer to debate it, because the four siblings were all soon right outside the compound. I picked up Hope and ran down the stairs as fast as I could while holding her as close to me as possible.

"Is she dead?" I asked them quickly, standing at the bottom of the steps. "Did you kill her?"

Elijah nodded slowly, and it was only then that I took in their disheveled appearance. Even so, they weren't really that hard done by for people who had just murdered someone. Elijah's tie was loosened and his shirt cuffs were unbuttoned. Klaus' jacket had some sort of dust on it. And Rebekah had taken off her coat. Freya seemed the same, but a little pale and still out of breath.

"It's over," Klaus said, sighing in content and sending me a soft smile. "It's all over."

I didn't return his smile. "Not all of it," I growled out, walking towards Elijah. I handed Hope to her, then walked straight to Klaus. "Go to the study. Now."

He seemed reluctant at first, but sighed and obeyed. Klaus wasn't one to listen to orders, but after what had done, he must have thought that this was an exception.

When we both got there, I went straight to the point. "Where is Hayley?"

"What does it matter?"

"Where is Hayley, Klaus?!" I shouted angrily, gritting my teeth a little.

He stayed quiet for a second, then shook his head a little, likely astonished at my desperation to find the mother of his child. He turned and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the table behind him, then filled a glass and answered my question while he poured the drink.

"She is in the bayou with her husband and their other brethren," he stated nonchalantly.

"And why has she not come back?" I asked.

"Because if she did, she would likely be shot down by animal control," he chuckled darkly.

My eyes widened, and in one flare of anger, I directed all of my energy to Klaus' glass. It shattered in his and, cutting at his skin and splattering on his clothes. He hissed slightly, then shook the glass pieces off of his hand then glanced down at the stain on his shirt before looking back at me. "Now, that wasn't very nice."

"You cursed her, didn't you?" I said, stalking towards him.

"Of course I did! It was the least she deserved, Rose! She ran off with my daughter!" He shouted back at me, his anger seeming to show as well.

"No it wasn't, Klaus! She was trying to protect Hope, you know that! How do we get her back?!"

"We don't," he hissed, shoving past me and hitting his shoulder against mine.

I reached out and grabbed his wrist, my anger taking control of me and causing me to lash out. His wrist cracked under the pressure of my grip, his bones snapping and fracturing under his skin. I caused an aneurism in his skull, and he screamed out in frustration and pain before yanking his arm out of my hand. He went on all fours and continue to yell until Elijah came running into the room.

"Roseia, calm yourself!" he begged, walking up to me and almost completely ignoring his brother. He put his hand on my shoulder, and the contact broke me out of the daze I had been in. I blinked a few times, then looked him in the eyes and bit my lip a little.

"I'm sorry," I said to him, not bothering to say the same to the panting Klaus that was now recovering from the two harsh blows I had dealt to him.

He looked behind him for a moment, then turned back to me when he saw that Klaus had gotten up and angrily stomped out of the room.

"Freya is going to stay with Hope for the night. We need to rest, Rose. Especially you."

I nodded once, then walked past him.

I went to the bathroom connected to our bedroom, where I removed my blouse and began to peel off the bandages from my neck. The wonderful bite that Nik had given me hadn't healed yet, and only time would help it at this point. It had healed to the point where it was similar to a bad burn. It would be better in a day or so.

I hopped up onto the counter, sighing softly and rubbing my neck with some kind of disinfecting cream that Freya had gotten her hands on recently.

"Allow me," I heard Elijah say from the doorway. He came in, his jacket now off and his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows.

Even without his complete suit, in my eyes, he was absolutely perfect.

He came over to me and rubbed the cream on my neck until it faded into my now tingling skin, and I sighed in relief when it was over. The movement irritated the skin, but I didn't mind. Elijah made it better.

I looked him in the eyes, feeling the corners of my lips tug up into a small smile.

His eyes were the darkest brown, and though he mostly didn't show it, they were filled with pain. But they were also full of wonder, and even though he thought no one seemed to notice, I had seen the way he marveled at the smallest things. Like when Hope touched his hand so gently and her eyes lit up with love for her uncle, or when Freya referred to him as "brother", or when Gia used to tease him about his suits, or when the seasons began to change and he could feel it in the air, or when he read some of his favorite books by the light of the fireplace.

He was so perfect in a thousand ways. He managed to amaze me beyond belief. He was beautiful in a way that I couldn't quite describe. And he was mine.

"I love you," I said to him. "You know that, don't you?"

He smiled a little, nodding. "Of course," he said, then placed his hand on the side of my neck that wasn't bitten. His lips grazed along my cheek, before he rested his forehead against mine. "I love you too, Roseia."