Eternal || Elijah Mikaelson

CLI - Innocence

Chapter One Hundred & Fifty-One

The three of us searched for a long while. We decided we would go our separate ways and attempt to find the object that represented us on our own, concluding that it would be faster.

I found many different objects that I saw Tristan or Aurora tense whenever I came near, but I did not think that any of them really fit me.

An old gold jewelry box, a vase containing a single white rose, a diamond necklace and earring set, a painting of New Orleans, and a dagger with a black handle. I knew that they were trying to trick me, trying to seem worried at any object that I touched. But I knew that it had to be one of them.

I decided to listen in on Elijah and Tristan, wondering if they would eventually try to battle it out. Elijah seemed to dislike Tristan more every second. I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest while I watched them.

"Let me guess," Elijah hummed, tapping the table that Tristan was sitting at. "I'm the chess board."

He picked up a piece from the board as Tristan spoke, a smile on his face.

"Not exactly. But this room was designed by someone who knew you. Intimately, I might add," he looked over at me, as if waiting for me to erupt in jealousy. When I didn't, he turned back to Elijah. "So, you should ask yourself... How does Aya see you? You realize that I"m here because my people love me. You're here because those same people loathe you. You've driven them to this."

"It's a prison of your own making. Shackled to your miserable existence from the moment I sired you."

"Precisely! We are your children. We came to you," Tristan said, his smile fading. "We begged you to lock yourselves away until the prophecy was passed - to, for once, bear the burden of being our creators."

"Would you mind terribly if you spared me the deadbeat-dad lecture?" Elijah asked.

I couldn't help but laugh, and Elijah smirked at me while Tristan just narrowed his eyes before speaking to Elijah again.

"You know, I'm most grateful for those hundred-odd years I spent compelled to be you. It taught me so much... But nothing more than how to not be you. Where you betray, I remain loyal. Where you abandon, I remain. And, should you find a knight or two in shining armour still foolish enough to fight for you..." He looked over at me, not taking his eyes away while he moved one of his pieces and took one of Elijah's off the board. "They will die right alongside you."

A long time passed. I continued to walk around the room, becoming more desperate to find the right object that represented me. I also looked for the one that represented Klaus and Elijah, but did not have any luck. Elijah sat in a chair, looking bored and frustrated as he pinched the bridge of his nose while Klaus continued to scowl angrily at Tristan and Aurora.

Aurora finally had had enough.

"Why, holy heavens! Look at you two. How could a woman really love either of you?" she asked, anger seeping into her tone.

My head snapped up and I glared at her. I was a woman that loved Elijah dearly, and she had no right to question that.

She turned to Klaus. "Even if she can stomach all your treachery, she's left to face your brother."

Klaus sighed. "And, here we go again, with the same tune you've been singing since you came to town. 'How Elijah Ruined Our Love'."

"I speak of both of you. Did you not rip Aya from Elijah when you forced him to abandon his loyal Strix? Just as he tore you away from me? All int he name of 'Always and Forever'. A ridiculous concept that ensures both of you spend your immortality alone!:

I darted in front of her, a growl rippling from my throat. "They are not alone. They never have been."

Aurora looked at me smugly, then glanced over my shoulder at Klaus, who walked away from Aurora. "Oh. It appears I struck a nerve."

"Tell me something, Aurora," Elijah said, standing up. "Have you met your brother Tristan?"

Aurora looked puzzled, but worried about what Elijah would say.

"Between deception and rampant abuse, he frequently - repeatedly - isolates and abandons you."

Klaus and I were both curious as to where he was going with this, and went to stand by his side so that we were face-to-face with the de Martel's.

"Of course... He's painfully aware of something that we've known all along. You are a deranged and ridiculous child who cannot be left unsupervised. Do you know... I think the greatest mercy I ever paid my brother was to compel you to leave him."

Tristan glared at us all coldly, while Aurora looked like she was about to cry. Elijah turned to Klaus and I with a grin, and Klaus was smirking at him. He put his arms out wide.

"Et vóilà! Ten centuries later..." he looked back at Aurora and Tristan, sneering. Aurora couldn't even look him in the eyes. "He came to that conclusion all by himself."

Elijah was satisfied with how upset Aurora looked. I nearly felt bad for her.

"Well, look at that," Elijah said, looking over at me. "So it appears I've struck a nerve."

Tristan was suddenly angry, and decided to direct his frustration at me.

"Tell me, Roseia. Exactly how long was it after you met them that the Mikaelson's corrupted you, and stole away your innocence? Was it years? Months? Days? Hours? They have ruined you, my dear. And you have let them! Why do you insist on staying near them when you have the option to run? You have seen what has happened to the lovers before them! Aya and my sister are only a few of the examples!"

I looked at him in silence for a few moments, then I laughed. He was surprised at my reaction.

"Really, Tristan? You think I was innocent before I met them? You don't know me. You never have. You sure as hell didn't know me then. I was a teenage witch whose entire family had died because I was too strong, and the witches were threatened. I fought them too, Tristan."

Tristan hadn't known that, and he took a step away from me as a stalked towards him. 

"I fought against my own people! Just like I will fight you if you ever get out of that ocean and come even slightly near my family. Do you understand that, Tristan? I will rip you apart."

My voice changed from just angered words to an enraged roar, and I could have sworn that I felt my face shift vampiric for a mere moment.

"I was never innocent!"

And right at that moment, the chambre de chasse shuddered beneath us and Freya appeared from right behind Tristan and Aurora.