After A Thousand Years | Esther Mikaelson

Chapter Nine

 "Esther." Elisabet walked briskly behind her. "Would you just stop? We need to talk."

 "There isn't anything to talk about," Esther replied. "I thought I asked you to stay with Mr. Saltzman."

 "I don't care about Alaric Saltzman! I care about you! And admittedly, my own well-being," she added. "What is this, Esther? What are we doing here? You haven't explained a thing to me, yet you expect to follow you around and help you, anyway!"

 "And what is it you want from me, Lise?" 

 "Well, an explanation would be nice," she answered sharply. "I want to know what the hell you're doing, and why." 

 "I thought I made it obvious," Esther said, slowing her pace. "I am going to turn Alaric Saltzman into an indestructible hunter, similar to Mikael. He is going to kill my children for me. The vampire race and its threat to humanity will end."

 Elisabet nodded. "Right. So, basically, you're just trying to replace Mikael with someone else who actually will kill your children for you. Esther, did you know you husband at all? This isn't something Mikael would have planned! He never wanted to kill his biological children. He wanted to kill Niklaus because Niklaus murdered you, the wife he loved so dearly."

 "And who betrayed him with another man. How would we have gotten past that, Lise? Do you really think he could have stayed with me after learning the truth?"

 "Yes, I actually do," Elisabet replied. "I knew him for years longer than you did, since we were children. True, the murder of Ansel and his entire family was a terrible thing for him to do, and I told him so, but Mikael always had a flair for the dramatic. I think that it would have taken time, but he would have choked down his pride eventually. He never got the chance to reconcile with you before you were murdered. Have you even mourned his loss at all?"

 "I don't have time to mourn him now," Esther snapped. "I understand that you still mourn his loss, Lise, but I cannot yet. Once my task is done, we can discuss whatever you like, but not now."

 Elisabet stopped walking. "You know, Mikael said something like that to me. Given that he was always hunting Niklaus, we never really got the chance to do anything together. I wanted us to be able to explore the world together, century by century, and all of its changes. He said that once he'd done it-killed Niklaus-we could do whatever I wanted, and he would follow along with me instead of the other way around."

 Esther stopped walking. "And what...did you want to do?"

 She shrugged. "I don't know. Anything, everything. I just wanted to do something fun with our eternity. Hunting down Niklaus was Mikael's holy mission; he wouldn't stop until it was done. But he would have joined me in whatever fun thing I wanted to do, however annoying he found it to be. I just...didn't want him to be stuck in the same torture forever. I see the same thing happening here to you, Esther."

 "I'm not stuck in some cycle of torture, Lise," Esther said softly. "Don't you understand? It was a mistake. Turning my family into immortals was a mistake. I didn't know there would be such a consequence." 

 "You didn't know about the blood-drinking, the way it would turn your children into monsters."

 "No, of course I didn't. Look at all of the lives they've taken, the lives they've ruined."

 "But Mikael and I were different," Elisabet said. "We hated the idea of drinking human blood. We were thrilled to discover we could survive on the blood of the vampires your children turned. On rare occasions, I have had animal blood, but I haven't taken a human life in centuries."

 "Oh, for God's sake, Lise, this isn't about you! This is about fixing the mistakes I made. If Mikael were here, don't you think that perhaps he would have wanted you to help me fix all of the past mistakes?" 

 Elisabet was actually stunned by the question, but she thought about it. If Mikael were there, he would have killed Klaus the first chance he got. As for the rest of them, she could imagine him saying, "Let them be, Lise. You know I was never after them."

 "I'm sorry," Elisabet said, stepping closer. "I shouldn't be demanding so many answers from you. We should be sticking together, since everyone else seems to be against us." She pulled Esther into a quick hug, only for a few seconds, since she knew she would want to hug longer if she didn't let go then. "Let's, um, go find this doppelganger, shall we?"

 "Wait a moment." Esther held her by her wrist. "You didn't answer my question."

 "Niklaus, yes. The others, probably not. We probably could have convinced him between the two of us, though. Who else could? He was very stubborn."

 Silence grew, and they walked at a slower pace now than they were before. Elisabet now couldn't help wondering if Esther's plan actually could work. If Klaus, Elijah, Rebeakah and Kol all died, she would be the only vampire left in the world. And what would she do, then? Esther was there now, but she would eventually be gone. And then Elisabet would be completely alone.

~~~~~~

 Lise sat somberly under the tree, her hands shaking from the events which had just occurred. She had done the stupidest thing she could have possibly done and went after one of the village girls, and actually kissed her. Of course, the young woman's father found out and came to hunt her down. Thankfully, Mikael intervened and ran him off.

 Now Mikael came to her where she sat, and bent down to try to make eye contact.

 "What did you do?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

 "I kissed that man's daughter," she answered, "The way a man would kiss a woman. I was trying to forget another woman I fell in love with, but it didn't work."

 Rather than getting angry at all, Mikael merely sighed and shook his head.

 "It can't be," he said. "You know such a thing can't be." 

 She nodded. "I know. But please don't make me get married, Mikael. At my age, I know, other women have already been married for years, but I don't-"

 "Elisabet Haraldsdotter, if I were to force you into a marriage, it would have already been done years ago. Now, come." He lifted her up by the sleeve of her dress. "We're going home, and I want you to put on dry clothes."

 "You're not angry with me?" she asked him.

 "Why would I be angry with you? You didn't attack my daughter. Do not do anything like that again, please. I don't need more angry men at my door."

 The fact that Mikael was being so calm, and so willing to accept the fact that she had fallen in love with another woman and just forget the day's incident caused Lise even more guilt about what she was keeping hidden.

 He had not thought to ask her who the woman she was in love with was.