² ACCESSION | elijah m.

17 | his divine face • ii

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Elijah got out of the car with the doppelganger in tow, his face morose and impassive. He shut the door loudly and stopped when he heard a rustle behind him.

With confusion and anticipation of a threat, he looked around to see young Adelia walking away, her navy-blue gown jostling the dry leaves behind her.

"Come," he said to Elena, choosing to ignore his wife's reappearance in a younger form, now sure of his mother's doing.

Elena cleared her throat and looked at the Original and asked, "Do you know this place too?"

"I do," he answered with a pursed mouth and continued, "Below us is a cavern I use to play in as a boy. Connects to a system of tunnels that stretch across the entire area. Perhaps it's nature's way of providing us with shelter against the savagery of the full moon. My mother said there must be a balance."

The Original described his surroundings as he noticed Adelia plucking out the petals from the red roses in the near vicinity.

"Elijah, I should probably go home," Elena said, acutely nervous about his intentions.

Elijah abruptly turned to look at her. "When I asked about your meeting with my mother the other night, you lied to my face," he told her, coming straight to the point.

"That's not true," she refused. "I told you that all your mother wanted was a new start."

"I can hear your heartbeat. It jumps when you're being dishonest with me. You lied to me at the ball; you are lying to me now," he stepped closer to her as she gulped. "Tell me the truth, Ms. Gilbert."

"I never wanted this to happen," Elena softly admitted.

"What, Elena?" Elijah narrowed his eyes.

"We were told that whatever was going to be in that coffin was going to kill Klaus. When we found out that it was your mother... we didn't know what to think," she explained.

"Since her return, she says she only wants this family whole again."

"When she asked to see me, I... I thought that maybe she could help. That she would find a way to kill Klaus," the doppelganger informed him as she contemplated her next words. "It's not just Klaus that she wants to kill."

"She wants to kill us all, doesn't she? She wants to undo the evil she created," the Original realized as he looked back to see younger Adelia staring back at him. His eyes fell to her slit wrists, blood dripping over the leaves as his heart plummeted to his stomach. He took a step forward to walk towards her when Elena's voice stopped him.

"I'm so sorry, Elijah. I wish there was something I could do to help," Elena whispered fearfully as she watched him in confusion.

Elijah smiled to himself at her empty words. "You know, one thing I've learned on my time on this Earth," he walked towards the doppelganger and finished his words, "...be careful what you wish for."

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Rafael locked the door to the apartment and grabbed his luggage to walk towards the elevator when his phone rang in his pocket. He sighed loudly, already knowing it might be one of the Mikaelsons. The bratty sister or the insolent brother. He pulled it out to see an unknown name displaying on the screen much to his surprise.

"Hello," he received the call.

"Rafael, are you still in town?" Elijah asked him.

He frowned and looked at the screen again. "Elijah?"