Gods & Monsters ✧ Elijah Mikaelson

II ✧ Warning

Chapter Two

Elijah's eyes opened, and he blinked against the light he was met with, only to realize that there was no light at all. Only a sunset that coated the sky in different shades of purple, orange, and yellow. The setting sun had never looked so beautiful, especially seeing how he had been convinced he would never see it again.

And then, he made another realization. It had been dark when Freya had tried the spell. What had happened?

He was standing in a vast garden, with bright flowers covering bushes and hedges as tall as him. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the flowers were all carnations. They were either pink or white, and he wondered why those were the only colours. The garden was right outside of a house, which was rather large and also very pleasing. Not quite a mansion, but certainly close. Freya had once mentioned her desire to move to the outskirts of New Orleans and live in a house such as that one as a family. Behind him was a meadow that lead to a forest, and it looked so dark that it seemed unending.

"Elijah!" he heard his sister call, and turned to see his three siblings coming out of the house and down the steps. He met them in the centre of the garden, among the carnations that were so bright they almost shone.

"Freya, what is this place?" he asked. "Is it of your creation, or Niklaus'?"

"I didn't do this," Freya informed him, fear lingering in her eyes. "I never finished the spell. Someone else did, and they sent us here."

He blinked, then furrowed his brow. "Then where in the world is 'here'?"

"That's just it, it isn't even in our world," she replied, as both Rebekah and Kol soon mimicked Freya's expression. "Elijah, I have no idea where we are."

*

Avarice hummed softly to herself, crouching down while standing on the tree limb. She watched them closely from the forest.

She wondered what they would do. Would they go back into the house, or be afraid that they have been tricked? Would they go explore, trying to find out where they were?

The house was of her own creation. She made it when she brought them there. They seemed to enjoy it, as they went back inside after looking around the garden for a little while.

Levi stood under the tree, looking up at her. She was not at all surprised to see him holding the staff of his scythe, gripping it a little harder than he should have been. He wasn't exactly against the idea of bringing the Mikaelson's to their world, but he was concerned about it. After all, they were the strongest creatures in the mortal world. Here, however, they were not. He shouldn't have been worried.

"Everything will be fine," she said, jumping down from the tree and landing easily. She stood straight and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why are you so unsure about them?"

"I simply question if it is even allowed to bring them here. The fates wanted them to stay alive, but did that really involve bringing them into our world? What if they simply wanted us to make sure the spell went through?"

"Freya was too weak. I could not give her my power because it would not have worked, and it would have been a waste. Our magic is different from theirs, you know that. I would not have been able to save them any other way."

Levi pursed his lips slightly, and his grip on his scythe loosened. "When are you planning on revealing yourself to them? On revealing us? You cannot hide from them forever."

"I will in time," she hummed, turning and walking by him.

They went deeper into the forest, back towards her home. She could see the turrets of the castle she hated so much - Kaige's castle - in the distance.

"Surely you have told Lord Kaige by now," he said, then looked at her in surprise when she shook her head. "What? Why on earth not?"

"There is no point. I am looking after them, not him. I brought them here, so they shall be my responsibility."

She could practically see Levi's eye twitch, even though he was walking right behind her. "You have to, Avarice. You know that by now."

"Levi, the only reason why I haven't told the Mikaelson's who and what we are, or why I haven't told Kaige that I brought them here, is because I want to allow them to get used to this world first. There are servants in their house; they may tell them where they are, but that is all they know. The servants do not know what the Mikaelson's are doing here or how they got here. They don't see anything special about this family because they know nothing about them whatsoever. The only problem with the entire situation is the fact that you feel the need to question my every action."

"I am not questioning you, I am warning you," he said, though it came out as more of a frustrated growl.

"Warn me of what?" she asked, her tone showing him just how disinterested she actually was.

She cared about Levi greatly, but she was stronger than him and she knew what she was doing. She was protecting people, those people being the family that were supposed to stay alive. She was not doing this on a whim, or for her own selfish reasons, she was doing it because the fates said so. He needed to calm himself and accept that the Mikaelson's would stay, and that Kaige had no business knowing about it or giving his heartless opinion.

"Warn you that Kaige will be angry. You have known him for thousands of years; surely you remember how he acts when we do things without telling him."

Avarice gritted her teeth a little. "And surely you know that he is not stronger than me. He may be the Lord of our world but I am stronger."

"So why are you not the Lord?" he asked, suddenly jumping in front of her.

"Is that what this is about?" Avarice muttered. "You are back on this again?"

"Of course I am. Kaige is a monster!" he hissed.

Avarice narrowed her eyes, then sighed and pushed past him. "I am surprised that you have forgotten."

She continued to walk, while he stayed where he was, glancing back at the house the Mikaelson's now resided in before his eyes followed her.

"What exactly is it that I am forgetting?" he asked.

She called out over her shoulder, but did not turn back to him.

"We're all monsters here, Levi. Even you."