Born of Chaos ☽ E. Mikaelson¹

ten ☽ gifted, not insane

Cora packed her stuff and threw her bag over her shoulder. She checked that she was still in possession of the cursed object that weakened her magic before heading downstairs. The entire bottom floor was half-empty with movers packing things up, courtesy of Klaus. Rebekah caught sight of Cora and frowned,

"Where the bloody hell are you off to?"

"I need to fix my magic," Cora answered, hand secured around the bag strap that crossed her chest. "Seeing as I'm an enemy of the state now, according to Klaus."

"How do you expect to do that? Don't the witches hate you?" Rebekah pointed out, much to Cora's annoyance.

"They do, but seeing as we no longer care what the witches think, I have daggers and fists," Cora said, pulling a dagger out of her sleeve as though to prove her point. Rebekah raised an eyebrow, looking almost impressed by the witch.

"You are a constant surprise, Cora."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Cora left the room then, only to run into Elijah. Her gaze flickered up to meet his eyes as she swallowed hard, still thinking about the previous day's events.

"I'm assuming you know where I'm going with your vamp hearing and all."

"Are you sure that's wise right now?"

"What else do you expect me to do, Elijah?" Cora asked earnestly, searching him for an answer. "You know what my magic means to me."

"And if there's no solution...?"

"I'll invent one."

Cora stepped past Elijah, keen to get to the door when Elijah caught her wrist with a gentle grip. The moment she looked back at him, he released her but the concerned look on his face didn't change.

"Cora, I need you safe."

"Elijah, I've never been safe, and if you really believed that I was safe in my old life, you never would've called me."

With that, Cora left the mansion, embarking on her quest to force the witches to bend to her own will. Elijah watched her leave with a bad feeling in his chest and then he went to check on his sister. The look on Rebekah's face suggested that she'd intentionally listened to Elijah and Cora's conversation.

"Last time that I saw you two, you were much cozier," Rebekah remarked.

"Thanks to Niklaus and his bite, I had hallucinations that threatened Cora's life. She had to shoot me."

Though Elijah sounded nonchalant about it, Rebekah could see the way that it bothered him. That he was guilty over something that he had no control over. For a moment, Rebekah forgot the indignation she felt over how Nik was treating them and focused on Elijah and the woman that he was so clearly in love with.

"Can I ask you something, brother?"

"Yes, Rebekah?"

"Why did you ask her here? And the real reason. Not whatever excuse you've been lying to yourself about."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Admittedly, I don't know her all that well, but I know you, Elijah. I've seen you with women you've loved and with Cora...you have something with her that I've never gotten the chance to have." Rebekah's voice was pained as she recalled all the times that she could have fallen in love and how each of those opportunities had been taken from her. "You could be happy, leave all this, our dastardly brother included, behind."

There was a faint smile on Elijah's face as he considered her words as though it was something he'd thought about before. His expression fell flat, serious now as he answered her.