Tiberius Salvatore: The eldest brother

38

Rio spent the rest of the day at the bar. He didn't know where Klaus went and he didn't care. He trusted Klaus not to try to kill Damon for, at least, almost another week. But there were other people in Mystic falls, and Rio learned that the hard way. Hours later, Damon called him.
"Hey little brother." Rio picked up.
"Your friend is out of control."
"What did Klaus do now?"
"Tried to murder the little Gilbert."
"He did what?"
"Yeah basically. I'm guessing your little chats have yet to make him reflect and..." Damon searched for the right word, which he said sarcastically waving his arms about. "respond positively."
"Well, is Jeremy alright? Is he hurt?"
"Alaric pushed him out of the way and died."
"Are you okay?"
"Oh don't worry about it. Alaric was wearing his ring so he'll come back."
"That's good." Rio replied. "I'll talk to you in a bit, I'm sorry for what Klaus has done."

"Are you an idiot? What's this destructive haze you've surrounded yourself with?" Rio exploded at his friend. He was at Klaus's mansion, still undergoing repairs. Klaus sat in his library.
"I assume you've heard of my dirty play."
"Yes. Jeremy is a kid. The Klaus I know doesn't kill children."
"Well, your brother stole my family."
"You don't kill my brother's ex-girlfriend's little brother. Come on, Klaus. Stop it, or they'll be desperate to kill you."
"They can't."
"But wouldn't it be nice if you could just live in peace without someone trying to kill you? First your father, then everyone else who you've pissed off?"
"Are you lecturing me?" Klaus attempted to stand up but Rio stood in his way forcing him to sit down.
"Yes. Since you so obviously require someone to lecture on how killing people is wrong." Rio rolled his eyes. "Klaus, can't you ever just be a normal man in his early twenties?"
"No. To do that, I'd have to be a normal man. I'm an Original vampire and werewolf. Which isn't even normal in the Supernatural world."
"So you kill people to have fun? Klaus, I'm your friend, and as your friend I try to rationalise everything you do. Make excuses, but if you continue on this self-destructive path then I won't be able to."
"Then don't make excuses! I'm your friend, but stop trying to change me. You can't. No-one can. I'm a thousand years beyond help. I will always be the villain in the story- the antagonist. You're destined to be the protagonist of your own story."
"So what about those stories. The good guy never understands the bad guy. I'm not going to be against you. You're like my little brother. Have been for decades, and I won't stop being your friend. Trust that I won't turn on you, and I'm not trying to change you, for God's sake. I'm trying to help you bring out the likeable, better side. Not the evil, killer side."
"Evil, killer side?"
"Yes. Evil, killer side. That's who you became after your parents were, well let's just say mean."
"I'm not sure if that applies to a father who wasn't my father and a mother who lied and turned my family into beasts because she and my father couldn't deal with loss."
"Exactly. Mean."
"Why do you put up with me, Rio? I'm obviously not a good guy, so why do you insist that I am?"
"I was stuck with you for 40 years. You end up liking someone after spending so much time with them. Besides, Klaus, I've told you before. You reminded me of my younger brothers. You may be older than me in actual years, but you're stuck in your 20s. And you don't just remind me of my brothers, I've grown close enough to you that you are my brother."
"Stop with the whole brother thing."
"Why? You feeling guilty yet?"
"No. I have nothing to feel guilty about."
"Except for killing a child?" Rio prompted.
"He's not that innocent."
"Except for-"
"Stop it."
"Why? Feeling guilty?"
"No."
"Oh, you totally are!"
"I don't have to listen to this garbage." Klaus said, clearly fed up with Rio.
"You know, statistically, apologies have been proven to help the apologiser come to terms and move on from the guilt."
"You made that up!"
"I did not." Klaus gave him a look. "Alright maybe I did, but it's probably true. In most cases."
"I'm not going to apologise to a kid."
"Physically, you're only about 5-6 years older than him. He's probably around Kol's age."
"Not feeling guilty Rio. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have an appointment with miss Gilbert. Seems like my plan worked, I've given her an incentive and it worked out."
"Wow, your parents really messed you up."
"Well you become one of two things when you have shifty parents. A seriously good, pure person like you. Or a messed up, evil person like me."
"You're not evil. You're just broken."
"Aren't we all?" Klaus answered rhetorically.
"Well some of us have managed to put ourselves together."
"Well, some of us weren't hunted for a thousand years. That would take at least a century of therapy."
"You should start now. Maybe in a hundred years you'll be a new, improved you."
"You keep dreaming Rio." Klaus nodded his head.

A couple of hours later, Rio headed to the Salvatore house, where Elena was. "I heard Klaus stopped by."
"Come by to make sure your brothers are alive?" Elena asked, sarcastically.
"No, I'm sure they're fine."
"Klaus tried to kill your brother. And Stefan's pissed him off. Why are you certain he won't kill them?"
"Well, Damon killed your little brother once, and Alaric too. You trust him not to kill them, don't you?"
"Damon's good."
"The difference between Damon, Stefan and Klaus is that my brothers have found a way to heal. Klaus is still searching. What if someone had killed Stefan in the middle of his ripper binges or when he massacred people? I wouldn't have seen him again and you wouldn't have known what it was like to love him. You wouldn't have gotten to know him. I'm sure there's someone out there for Klaus. Maybe far in the future, maybe not so far. But, you might kill him before someone gets the chance to put him together and help him be good."
"He murdered my family."
"You think my brothers' victims had no family? No one who loved them? But no one plotted to kill him."
"It's been a century and a half for them. 10 for Klaus. That's the difference." She said fiercely.
"And some people it takes only 10 years- you know the humans who don't have our lifespan."
"I can't forgive him for trying to kill my brother. I can't forgive him for killing my biological father. My aunt."
"But you can forgive Damon for actually killing your little brother? For turning and, thus dooming, his first girlfriend's life? And killing your original history teacher? And for how he treated Caroline when she was human- or even almost killing Bonnie because he was pissed Katherine wasn't in the tomb?"
"Why are you trying to get me to hate Damon?"
"I'm not. I'm just saying you are a hypocrite because you're taking two people who have both hurt people you know and liked and loved and forgiving one whilst trying to kill the other?"
"He tried to kill me."
"Does your brother make continuous efforts to actually kill Damon?"
"No."
"Exactly. Both of your situations are the same. Both of you died and came back to life. You're the only one holding a vendetta."
"Damon and Stefan are your brothers. Klaus is your friend. Who would you pick?"
"I wouldn't pick. Klaus may as well be my brother. He was best man at my wedding, helped Lottie and I all the time. He saved my life a few times and I even legally adopted him as my brother. Granted we were super drunk, but it happened. We were best friends and brothers for 40 years."
"Can you even get that drunk?" Elena asked.
"A witch put a spell on the alcohol for us. It was my bachelor party." Rio shook his head. "I love Klaus, as much as I love Stefan and Damon. All 3 of them are my brothers. My point is you hate Klaus but not others who would do the same. That makes you a hypocrite, and one of the reasons I don't like you."
"So why did you come here? If you don't like me, I mean. If you're not here for your brothers you're here to see if I'm alive, aren't you?"
"Because I care about Damon and Stefan  and they'd hate to see anything happen to you. Simple as that. I have to go, now. I need to buy groceries because I forgot I have a teenage witch living with us who needs food." And with that, he left.