Gods & Monsters ✧ Elijah Mikaelson

XLII ✧ Courage

I just went to see Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales at the drive in and it was great bUT IT WAS COLD AF and I'm really tired so night night and enjoy

Btw the song is a BEAUTIFUL version of Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers. This version is done by J2 AND I WILL FOREVER LOVE THAT BAND. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW GUYS.

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Chapter Fourty-Two

Months passed by quickly, and without disturbance.

The reapers were, of course, angry with Avarice. But they were also afraid. None of them had ever killed anyone except for her. At least, to their knowledge. They did not know what Kaige had done to the other members of the Seven.

She went to see Jagger once. But his mind was lost. He believed that his wife was still alive. He would not have understood her hatred for Kaige, or her misery at losing the person she loved.

She had accepted that. She loved Elijah Mikaelson, but she needed to move on. She needed to let him move on.

She had been out in the garden when she spotted Kaige standing on the other side of it. He had his hands in his pockets, and wore the softest of smiles. The closer that she got to him, she saw something else behind it. Something... Sad. He seemed sad.

He requested that she come to his home, and when she finally did accept his invitation a few days later, he seemed even more depressed than before.

He poured her a cup of tea that she did not even touch. She just stared at him; watched him. She didn't want to take her eyes off of him out of fear of what he would do.

"You haven't been eating," he said. "Or sleeping very much, either. I do not have to ask why."

She didn't respond.

"I know that you miss them, Avarice, but you must think of yourself and your own well-being..."

His words seem to fade, and she no longer paid attention. When she heard him silence himself, she finally met his eyes, coming out of the daze she had been in.

"I had wanted to try and change your mind, to help you become better again, but I see that there is only one way to do that."

He stood, and held out a hand to her. She did not take it. Instead, she stood as well, walking to stand by him. He seemed disappointed, but content that she was willing to follow, and walked ahead of her.

She followed him into the reaping room. His was darker than hers, the walls and floors both black and the doors a deeper of the portal a deeper shade of brown.

"I assume that, by now, you have figured out that you are no longer a reaper?"

She hadn't been aware that he knew. When she did not reply, he turned to her with a raised brow.

"Well?"

She nodded once.

"You would be right, Avarice. You are not a reaper. Not anymore, at least. You were before you absorbed the energy from both the mare that tried to kill Elijah Mikaelson and from the man they once called "The Beast", Marcel Gerard. You are not a reaper, nor are you a mare, nor are you the Beast. You are something else entirely. Something stronger, and faster. Something far more powerful than any creature in the mortal world."

She finally did speak. "Why do you wish to tell me what I already know?"

He smirked. "There is that voice I adore so much."

She cringed inwardly.

"I want to tell you this because you will need that strength and power."

Avarice raised a brow at him. "Why on earth would I need it?"

"The mortal world needs you more than this one does, my dear."

"No. I'm not going back there, Kaige." She spun on her heel, determined to walk out of the room entirely and leave him to his own devices

"You did not let me finish. Specifically, the Mikaelson's need you."

She froze in her steps, but did not turn back to him.

"They are in trouble, Avarice. And they know it. They have run all across the world and back again trying to escape Klaus' enemies. I suspect you were unaware of that, since you seem determined to cut yourself off from them entirely. Additionally, you would have gone back immediately to help them if you had known."

She could almost feel the tears start to form in her eyes again. She hated crying so much, and yet, that family had caused her to be just as emotionally vulnerable as she had been when her friends died a millennium before. Avarice squeezed her eyelids shut to prevent the tears from slipping out.

"I can't go back, Kaige. If I'm not a reaper, then I can't move from worlds. You know that."

"Ah, yes. That is correct. But I can," he replied.

She didn't respond to him, but instead turned, a brow raised. Of course she knew that. What exactly was his point?

"I can also give another person the strength to stay in the mortal world. As you did with Aspin."

Avarice was quiet for a moment, before she asked, "Is she still with them?"

He nodded. "Yes, she is. She and Freya are very happy together, and have joined in their efforts to keep Niklaus and the rest of the Mikaelson's safe. They are a rather effective team, in my opinion. But see, Aspin is strong. You, my dear, are powerful. You could protect them."

"What are you saying, Kaige? Come out with it."

"I want to give you the power to go to the mortal world. Forever."

"Why? So you can be the King of all the reapers?"

His expression had gone from neutral to saddened, and almost as if he were in pain. "I truly do wish you could see something other than darkness and evil in me, Avarice, but I know that will never happen."

She looked down at the ground.

"I want you to go to the mortal world because I want you to be happy."

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? Because I love you, Avarice."

She didn't say a word as he came closer and stood in front of her.

"And when you love someone, you want them to be happy. You will never be happy here. Not when you have been with them and seen all that you could have."

He looked down at his feet, and for a moment, Avarice thought that his cold demeanour would return. She was proven wrong when he captured her face in both hands and made her look him in the eyes.

"You once told me that home is where you heart is. You said that your home is the person you love most. It is time for you to go home now, Avarice. It is time for you to protect him."

He kissed her forehead softly, then released her. This felt like a goodbye to Avarice. She didn't quite know what to say, not even when he took her hand and brought her over to the reaper's door.

"Thank you, Kaige," she said after he had opened it.

As she was about to cross through and into the portal, he called after her.

"Anyone can die, my dear," he said. "But you? I know now that you will be one of the few of us with the courage to live."

He gave her one last wide smile, and she returned it with a grateful one before stepping through the portal.

She was not yet ready to see Elijah. But she was ready to keep him and his family safe. She would always be ready for that.