I never told you (Elijah Mikaelson fanfic)

Chapter 33

Elijah had immediately regretted giving the keys to Charles. He needed a faster way to get home. A road trip that took a day to get here in a car, Elijah knew that he wouldn't be able to get her back in time.

"Elijah" Anastasia pushed out "I'm running out.... Of... Time" she paused, forgetting the words that she needed to say. "Sit with me?" She finally asked.

They were still in the forest behind the bar, but it was a large forest and they wouldn't be found. "No we can get home, to Niklaus" Elijah had refused the thought that she is going to die and they have no way of getting back in time.

"Please" she looked up at him with these he blue eyes she had when she was human. Something glistened in them, but Elijah saw it slowly glazed over with the thought of her death on the horizon. "Let me spend my last moments in peace, with you"

Anastasia's skin had turned a sickly shade of white, blood smeared her lips from where she had coughed up blood and her eyes looked heavy, as if she had not slept for weeks on end.

Elijah closed his eyes and swallowed in fear of the unknown. He needed to give up now, he knew it was for the best.

He placed Anastasia, sitting up against the tree and sat down beside her. She shuffled so her back was not touching the tree, but her head was rested on Elijah's shoulder and her arm wrapped tightly around his stomach.

"I shouldn't have got the stone" she said after a while, they both sat in silence trying to recount the days events and to come to terms with a very unwelcome death.

"You needed it, I would have given you anything in the world" Elijah stroked her hair, the once soft and silky texture now felt matted and dull

"I know" Elijah felt her smile but also the warmth of the tears dripping from her eyes "I don't want to die" she looked up at him. The very look of the beautiful girl he had fawned over for centuries broke his heart; he had lost her once and he had felt so careless to ruin his second chance at happiness with her.

"I don't want you to die" Elijah choked, he held back the tears as he believed if he began, he would not stop.

The only sounds that could be heard was the sounds of the birds in the trees and the rustling of the woodland creatures trying to get away from the predators that Elijah and Anastasia were. It was peaceful.

Elijah leant his head down to close his lips onto her forehead. Her skin fired up and she was hotter than anything he had felt. "I love you" he whispered gently into her ear. She flinched as if his very breath hurt her.

"I love you too" she smiled up at him, her teeth smeared with her own blood, but Elijah thought she was beautiful anyway, no matter what her state was.

Anastasia managed to push herself up, closer to Elijah's face. He caught on and leant down to kiss her gently on the lips, for what they both believed would be the last time. Elijah didn't want her to leave. He would have done anything in his power to prevent it, but unfortunately his power was void for this occasion.

As soon as Anastasia pulled away from their kiss. They both knew that it was the end. She began to cough, her head flew out of the way, from Elijah's direction for her to cough up some more blood.

The pain grew and grew until Anastasia quivered in fear, even at Elijah's soft touch. The floor burned her knees from underneath her and the air had attacked her.

Anastasia screamed "it burns" she sobbed "it burns Elijah please..." Elijah knew what she wanted, but he needed her to say it before he went through with the deadly task.

"Kill me" she sniffed, followed by another painful scream, anybody could have heard it.

Elijah stood there, his heart stopping every motion his head wanted to do. He needed to kill her, for her to finally feel peace and to stop the pain from consuming her. He wanted to remember Anastasia as the lively girl who's optimism made him smile more than anybody else could, not the sickly looking vampire who begged for the tranquility of death.

The only thing Elijah had left to decide would be if he wanted to remove her heart or stake her. He had endured both tortures and they were each as painful.

The only thing that made him decide would be that staking her is less intimate than tearing a heart out. By staking her, he would feel that he wasn't the main culprit, that the stake had killed her and not him.

So Elijah ripped off a branch from the tree, the very feel of the oak felt like it had slashed his hands. This was what he never wanted to do. He had driven her to her death once, but he had not killed her himself before.

But as the stake made contact with Anastasia's torn and blood stained clothing. He snapping of twigs and the crunching of leaves was heard in the distance.

"Stop right there" the voice sounded smug, as if he would be the hero in this tale.

Elijah turned around and dropped the stake to the floor. The sight of who had stood there had made him almost dance with happiness and relief.

"Brother"