𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜, 𝐞. 𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐨𝐧²

32. list of affections

s2e11: brotherhood of the damned

Brynley sat with Elijah and Camille in the living room the next day to help Elijah with the effects of Esther's torture.

"Our goal here is to confront your subconscious. An element of my thesis is on suppression of past trauma and how it can manifest in a barren and often violent behavior." Cami began.

"You know, I believe it was 1897 when a dear friend of mine-- let's just call him the godfather of modern psychoanalysis-- mentioned something similar to me over tea in a Viennese café." Elijah smiled

"Are you name-dropping Freud right now?" Cami questioned and Elijah just shrugged. "Okay, here's something I know that even Freud didn't."

"Oh, do tell!" Elijah sighed.

"What it feels like when someone takes away your deepest, ugliest pain without your consent." Fam I admitted and Elijah's smile fell. "It is both a blessed relief and a complete violation. Sound familiar?"

Brynley sat in silence as she observed her soulmate and Cami spoke against "Good. Let's start with what you've referred to as the "red door."

"That's an image from my past. My youth. It was a door to a slaughterhouse. Sometimes it appears to me in, uh, in flashes. A memory, but it's also a metaphor. It's a place where unspeakable deeds dwell in darkness." Elijah explained.

"And have there been many?" Cami questioned.

"Oh, Camille, you know I'm no stranger to violence. Typically, however, I am possessed of a, uh, certain... control." Elijah answered. "However, now and then, I can be consumed with chaos. And, untethered from that control... this is where the deeds are concealed. Behind that door."

"Why that particular door?" Camille asked.

"This is where the first woman I ever loved told me she loved me in return." Eljjah replied. "It's also where I laid her body after I took her life."

"No one knows this. Not even Niklaus." Elijah informed and Brynley looked down guiltily, she still had yet to tell him that she knew. "My brother loved Tatia as deeply as I did. He still believes that Mother killed her. Not only is this a lie, it's a lie of my creation. And my brother doesn't forgive. He doesn't forget. Therefore, I think it's best that I forget for both of our sakes."

Elijah began to feel weak, stumbling on a nearby chair. Brynley stood up and ran over. "Elijah?"

Elijah passed out on the floor and Brynley and Cami looked at each other with terrified looks. Brynley bent down and placed her hands on his face. "Desperta."

Elijah still laid unconscious and Brynley looked down at him nervously.

-

Elijah woke up in an old-fashion room, looking around to see Klaus. "Niklaus."

Kol appeared and he rolled his eyes. "You two."

"What is this?" Elijah asked.

"It's a chambre de chasse. A hunt room. It's where witches bring their prey for mental target practice. Our bodies are in the real world, laying dead on the floor, whilst our minds are in here, represented by these creepy animal heads." Kol explained and Elijah rolled his eyes, annoyed. He couldn't be here, he needed to be in the real world to protect his pregnant soulmate.

"Let me take a wild guess as to who is the author of this nightmare." Klaus sighed. "Finn! Show yourself!"

"Save your strength." Finn appeared. "In here, I am untouchable. My magic, my rules. So, make yourselves at home. We're gonna be here for a while. At the very least, this prison is a bit more comfortable than the box you held me in for...Almost nine hundred years?"

"The heads are a nice touch. Let me guess," Klaus gestured to the decor. "I'm the big, bad wolf? Kol, the wily fox. Elijah is the noble stag, and you, fittingly enough, are the boar! Bit obvious, as far as symbolism goes...Why are we here? Don't tell me-- it's about Mother? I didn't force her to drink blood and betray everything she holds dear. That was her choice."

"This isn't about Mother, this is about you. I want you to know how it feels to be powerless! So, I'm going to take the thing that matters most to you-- the city you've come to love so much." Finn said.

"Are we quite done here? You will release us now." Elijah demanded.

"What's the matter, Elijah? Worried for your soulmate?" Finn smirked and Elijah began to feel worried, wondering if Finn knew about the baby. "Don't worry, Brynley can take care of herself. I will release you. After sundown. Because at sundown, when the marchers of Carillon Eve take to the streets, my barrier spell drops. Marcel and his hungry vampires will be unleashed to kill their way through the Quarter! I imagine that, after their atrocities, the supernatural community of New Orleans will be forced to find another place to call home."

"Look, I don't care about the city. What I care about is that my very human body is laying at the feet of some very hungry vampires." Kol spoke up. "Your fight is with them, it's not with me!"

"All you care about is your own fragile mortality. But, what if you were made vulnerable? What then?" Finn wondered.

"Why the hell isn't he waking up?" Brynley asked as she looked down Elijah's body.

-

Elijah and Klaus still stood in the Chambre de Chasse with Finn, Kol had already been sent back to his body. Finn smirked at his brothers. "So, what shall we talk about while we wait for nightfall? Oh! I know! Let's talk about our parents."

"You know, I figured you wouldn't be kind to Mother, but imagine my surprise to learn that Mikael met the same fate! Bravo, brother." Klaus said.

"You see, the parent I was interested in talking about was your father. Your real one? I mean, you longed to know him your whole life, yet at the first opportunity, you murdered him! Why, I wonder?" Finn asked.

"Possibly the same reason you took out Esther. Severing parental ties has a way of freeing one up to recognize one's true potential." Klaus shrugged.

"Quite. But, Esther was no fool. She pinpointed your wants, and knowing your true father was at the top of the list!" Finn exclaimed. "No, something else occupies the top of your list of affections. And it's not your favorite city. Because I'm about to take that from you, using your own vampires, and I barely get a rise out of you! I thought maybe it was Rebekah, but you remain calm, even when the one who knows her fate probably just met his."

"I am fighting the monumental urge to mount your severed head upon one of these walls..." Elijah threatened.

"And so he speaks!" Finn yelled, looking at Elijah. "The same applies to you brother, I wonder what is at the top of your list of affections. Is that fairy you're so smitten with?"

Elijah looked at Finn, not saying anything. Finn sighed. "Niklaus, and then, I thought it was your favorite brother, but Mother broke him into a thousand pieces, and rather than fix him, you left him to fend for himself God knows where. You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were hiding something from me. Something big. Something dark. Maybe your real father found out what it was, and you had to kill him?"

"You want to know why I killed my father?" Klaus asked and Finn nodded. "Because when blood relations let me down, I don't stop to reason with them-- I remove them."

"So, the secret is there is no secret? You long for nothing, care for no one?" Finn assumed. "The problem is, brother, I don't believe you. It's clear to me that you're hiding something. And, as I control your presence here, we've got all the time in the world to figure out just what that might be."

Elijah and Klaus looked at each other nervously and Finn continued to speak. "Elijah, you're awfully quiet over there. Do you know what that tells me? You're hiding something as well."

-

After about an hour more of Finn interrogating Elijah and Klaus, desperate to find out their secrets, he sent them back to their bodies. Elijah jumped awake and Brynley let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh my god," Brynley gasped and hugged the original, Elijah sighing in relief that she was okay. "Are you okay?"

"For now."