𝑺𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑲𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 | 𝑲𝒍𝒂𝒖𝒔 & 𝑬𝒍𝒊𝒋𝒂𝒉 𝑴.

|𝟖| |𝐀ɴᴅ 𝐒ᴏ, 𝐈ᴛ 𝐁ᴇɢɪɴs...|

𝐎ʟᴅ 𝐏ʟᴀɴᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ 𝐇ᴏᴜsᴇ.

𝐑ᴇʙᴇᴋᴀʜ 𝐅ᴏᴜɴᴅ 𝐇ɪᴍ 𝐈ɴ 𝐓ʜᴇ 𝐏ʟᴀɴᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ 𝐀ғᴛᴇʀ 𝐇ᴏᴜʀs 𝐎ғ 𝐒ᴇᴀʀᴄʜɪɴɢ.

Every piece of furniture had been destroyed by him.

Nothing remained.

Even though her good brother had not had much time to get to know Phaedra, she was surprised by how deeply her death had affected him.

But then she remembered how his heartbeat had increased when he first saw her on Hayley's phone and she half-smiled.

It was incredible how a bloody selfie could pique someone's interest...

A selfie.

Not even around Hayley she remembered him acting like when he was around Phaedra.

With the wolf, only his expression had changed - heartbeat steady.

But with the half-French it was different... he was smiling afterwards.

On the back porch she found him, sipping on a bottle while his damp skin shone in the moonlight.

Sitting next to him, the sister remained silent as she waited for him to reveal his feelings to her.

"Could you please tell me what I am doing wrong and why my luck with women is so..." He trailed off and sniffled. "tragic?"

"You're doing nothing wrong, Elijah," she told him quietly, and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Then, how do you explain the fact that I'm always the one who ends up with a broken heart? In order to turn us into vampires, Tatia had to be killed. Beatrice... Beatrice never returned my affections." The blonde beamed upon the image of Beatrice. She had forgotten that, when she was about to get married to Alexander, Elijah had been in love with his sister, Beatrice.

"Katerina feared for her life and stole the Moonstone, and five centuries later, she took advantage of me and used me so she could finally be free of our brother," he continued. "Céleste was brutally killed by Niklaus. After that, we hear about his "incident" in Mystic Falls with Hayley. Despite my full knowledge that it was wrong, I later found myself drawn to her. And then..." He was unable to complete his sentence as more tears began to flow from his closed eyes.

"Phaedra appeared..." Finished Rebekah for him.

Elijah raised his head, inhaling deeply. "It was different to every other... encounter, I've ever experienced. I hadn't realized it back then, but... I was bewitched by her the instant I laid my eyes on her, even if it was through Hayley's phone... Imagine how I felt when I saw her the next day as Niklaus' Artemis. I couldn't believe my own eyes."

"Neither could I," sighed the female and leaned forward, supporting her elbows against her knees. "Nik's Artemis, Hayley's best friend and the girl Marcel has had under his protection since almost the day she was born, are the same person. Absolute lunacy."

"After so long, I felt my heart beat again," continued the elder Original and turned to look into his sister's also watery ocean-blue eyes. "Truthfully. Since meeting Céleste, I have not felt such a-"

"Céleste?" Queried Rebekah, surprised. "Not... Hayley?"

Shaking his head in denial, her brother let his eyes wander as he sipped from the bottle of Bourbon he was holding. "With Hayley, it wasn't anything like that. One thing Sabine told me about her when I got into the city, was how she felt towards our brother."