The burdens of family

24

Arkyn stayed silent until Stefan woke up, cursing.
"Language!" Katherine said with a cheeky grin. "What would innocent Elena say about that?"
"Why would you snap my neck?" He asked.
"Sorry. Needed to talk to Arkyn without you eavesdropping." Stefan looked over to Arkyn, who raised his hands in defense, and shrugged. Arkyn stood and walked to the back of the cave. Stefan followed and so did Katherine. Arkyn sent them a look before sitting down on a boulder. They all sat in silence. "Ooh we should play a game. How about truth or dare?" The boys ignored Katherine. "Are we seriously not going to talk at all?"
"We could talk about how you regret all you've done to make the lives of everyone around you miserable."
"What do you want me to say, Stefan? That I'm sorry for everything that I've done? Well I'm not, okay? It's called self-preservation. I've been looking out for myself for 500 years." Arkyn snorted at her lame excuses.
"And look where it's gotten you."
"Yes, I've done terrible things. I know that, but I do love you, Stefan. Even if you don't believe it."
"You want me to believe you? Show me. Do something. Prove to me that there's something inside of you that's actually worth trusting."
"And then what? You're still gonna hate me."
"Maybe and maybe I'll see that there's still hope for you after all."
"You're playing me."
"Am I?"
"You want to find Klaus?" She asked him, glancing at Arkyn. "Kill him so that you can protect your precious Elena?"
"Let me guess: you know where he is."
"No, I don't, but I could help you find him."
"Shut up, Katerina." Arkyn said. "Before I make you."
"I thought you hated Klaus?" Stefan asked him.
"I hate him. I don't hate you. If you go after Klaus, he's not the one who's going to end up dead."
"You could help us." Stefan said.
"You're forgetting the part where we can't be killed. Especially Klaus."
"You're a lot stronger now." Katherine spoke. "If I could find him and you could find a way to kill him, then the rest of this town would be safe. It's not like you haven't come close enough before."
"Don't." Arkyn glared at her.
"Your help comes with a price, Katherine, I'm sure." Stefan said.
"Start with Isobel, Elena's mother. She was a research expert. She found me. You're welcome." Arkyn walked to the front of the cave to get away.

A few minutes later, Elijah appeared. Arkyn glared. Elijah held out a finger and touched the bottom of Ark's ears. Dried flake of blood fell off.
"You bled." Elijah said, as Arkyn ducked his head away from his brother. Katherine and Stefan, hearing Elijah. "What happened?"
"What do you care?"
"You're my baby brother-" Arkyn scoffed.
"Let's not." He shook his head. Elijah turned to the doppelgänger.
"Elijah." Katherine breathed, scared.
"Good evening Katerina." He greeted with a smirk. "Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened."
"Your releases has been requested." He said to Arkyn and Stefan.
"What? By who?" Stefan frowned.
"The lovely Elena drives a hard bargain. However, we reached a peaceful agreement, she and I." Elijah gestured for Stefan to leave the tomb. "Please. Come."
"I can't." Stefan denied.
"Yes, you can." Elijah explained. "I've had the spell lifted." Stefan tentatively walked out. Once he left, Katherine tried to speed out too, only to be blocked by Elijah stepping in front of her. "As for you however, you should not exit until I say so. When Klaus comes, he'll want to know exactly where you are." He compelled, and looked at Stefan. "You're free to go. Elena will explain the arrangement to you. If she keeps her word, I'll keep mine." Stefan nodded. Arkyn started to walk out of the tomb.
"Ark?" Katherine asked.
"I'm not trying to save you, Katherine. Not this time." Arkyn left.
"I should go talk to my baby brother. Perhaps I can convince him to help us out with Klaus." Elijah followed his brother out.
"Leave me alone, Elijah."
"How did you get out of the boundary spell?"
"You're not the only one with witches."
"Perhaps not. But my witches had to draw upon the power of the full moon. There was no full moon yesterday."
"Maybe your witches just aren't enough?"
"How did you do it? I'm sure if your witches had enough power they'd have taken your boundary spell down."
"Enough, Elijah. Do what you want. You always do. Just keep me out of it. And if you so much as slightly ruffle a hair on the head of anyone in this town in your attempt to kill Niklaus, finding our siblings is going to be the least of your worries. I'll make Mikael look like a walk in the park."
"They will be fine. Including Bonnie Bennett." Arkyn's eyes widened in surprise, before he masked his expression. "Elena filled me in on your relationship with her best friend, though she was under the impression I already knew. I give you my word that she will not come to harm."
"Am I supposed to trust that? You can't control Klaus. Isn't that how he managed to kill your girlfriends over the centuries? Forgive me if your word doesn't instantly inspire my faith."
"Arkyn. Help me bring Niklaus down, once and for all. Then you can go your own way, and I will never contact you again."
"You really believe you can kill him? For a thousand years you've chased his redemption. Am I supposed to believe you'll give it up on a whim and kill him? You could never do it. Especially not when the rest of our siblings are daggered."
"I know you think I won't but I will. He's gone too far. He's thrown them into the ocean."
"No he hasn't." Arkyn scoffed.
"Yes he has, I heard it from him myself."
"Yes and Niklaus never lies." He said sarcastically.
"Why don't you believe he did? You think he's incapable?"
"No. He's very much so capable. Trust me, I'd know. But if he was going to throw them in the ocean, he would've thrown Finn and Kol away five centuries ago when he did so to me. Or have you forgotten?" Elijah looked uncomfortable.
"I will never forget what we did to you, Arkyn." Elijah said.
"And yet you still seem to believe I am at fault for not wanting to be part of your family."
"You left two centuries after that. We were wrong, but if you were truly angry about that, you would've left then. Niklaus only left you daggered for three decades."
"Only? Do you hear yourself?"
"Well I figure, three decades isn't much in comparison to the two centuries you were left daggered in the twelfth century."
"Is there a point to reminding me of all the times my so called 'family' disappointed me, or are you simply just trying to reminisce?"
"You forgave us for two centuries of leaving you daggered. You stuck with us, even after Nik daggered you for helping Katerina. So what was so bad you left us behind?"
"Well, after losing Esmeralda, I just couldn't stand you lot."
"We didn't kill her."
"Mikael did, I know. I hate him as much as I hate Klaus and you. You want to know why I didn't leave you guys after Kol decided to rebel against Klaus and finally undagger me after two centuries? Because I was afraid. Because if my siblings cared so little as to shove me in a box with a dagger in my heart, then what would stop them from actually putting the dagger in my heart again themselves. It only took another two centuries for Klaus to prove me right. I wanted to go my own way and he put a dagger in my heart. You helped him. Then he threw me into the ocean."
"Arkyn."
"Do you know what that's like? Bad enough being daggered. But the water in my coffin washed out the white oak ash. It took a few years. But then, for over twenty five years, I was half alive, half dead. I was drowning, or dying of hypothermia, unable to move because the dagger kept me immobilised." Arkyn described. "I didn't leave then either because I was terrified of the two of you. So you can preach about family all you want, but don't ever pretend I'm yours."