Black Castle 🖤 E. Mikaelson

Chapter Thirty•Nine. There & Then

Chapter Thirty•Nine. There & Then
ELIJAH
{Us by James Bay}

🖤
After the wreckage
After the dust
I still hear the howling, I still feel the rush
Over the riots, above all the noise
Through all the worry, I still hear your voice
🖤

Year Five... when the Mikaelsons woke up.

If being alone was all Niklaus had ever known, he would have felt completely unphased by his predicament, but he also felt like it was an understatement.
Niklaus had been chained by the throat, hands, and ankles; worn out and sweaty from his endeavors of trying to escape from the dungeon he was trapped in. He kept whispering to himself that his family was going to come to his rescue, that someone was on their way. No one ever showed up. It had been about five years that he remained where he sat. He didn't get a lick of a feel of what Arabella had gone through the entire thousand years she was gone.

He continued to wonder why no one had shown up after two weeks. After months, he stopped wondering altogether. He was so tired of fighting to get out of his chains, that eventually he stopped fighting against them too. Being bound by magic, he knew it was a lost cause to try and find a way around it.
His wonderment in woes came to an end when he saw a female shadow coming from down the damp dungeon hall.
He looked up after a minute when he thought it was Arabella who walked in through the steel bars that had been sealed off by magic. It was Vera, of course, the magic wouldn't work on her, she was no longer human and it wouldn't work on her, but he wasn't worried about that. He silently wondered why no one was there to stop her.
That was because Arabella had taken down every vampire standing guard over Niklaus, she was still outside taking care of them as Vera looked down at his disheveled look and instantly disapproved, shaking her head at him.

He looked awful in Vera's opinion, and Niklaus would think she'd say something rude to him about his appearance, but she didn't say a single word. A small smile lined her lips, and a look of want glimmered in her eyes. She was happy to see him. Five years have been long enough.
Niklaus didn't want to believe that she was there, but he also felt like she was a figment of his imagination, either since she looked so new to him. Her hair was twice as long, three shades darker and her skin was radiant and glowing. Not that it wasn't before but anyone could tell that she was taking care of herself. He wasn't convinced she was there, but she was there to see him. He still had no idea that it was Vera though.

"Hello Nik," she greeted him as she set down her phone. When her hands were free, she took both hands and moved her long hair over her left shoulder, and didn't stop walking until she was very much in his personal space. It wasn't until her hand was cupping his face that it became real to him that she was there in the flesh. His sigh completely caught her off guard as he rested his face against her left hand.
"Ara," he sighed again as he rested his head in her palm, the relief of not being completely crazy overwhelmed him, he thought he would cry. He was happy to see her after she disappeared while Niklaus was locked away for months.

Maybe she knew how Hayley's search was going since she had to find three different cures for his siblings. Arabella wasn't Hayley's biggest fan, or vice versa considering the circumstances, but still, she had to be updated to know about her family, to know about Elijah. And Vera did have that information for him if he wanted to know, she was just saddened that he was thinking of Arabella rather than her. She would think that he would want to see Vera and not Arabella, so that put a question in her head. She couldn't expect anything else though, Arabella was one of the most important people in his life, so she understood. So she pushed the question away. "Please tell me you're going to get me out of here."
"We're going to get you out of here," Vera laughed a little bit to try and make Niklaus feel at ease, and for a second he did. Then Vera moved his arms from resting on top of his legs as she maneuvered herself onto his lap which completely caught him by surprise. "But I'm not Ara.