The Original

Weight Of A Soul

Gen stood on the porch, gazing out at the sunset, and watching her parents taking a walk around the long driveway. Her words to Elijah were still ringing in her ears. Long ago, it would have killed her to admit something like that to him, because she had never wanted him to see her as broken. Had never wanted him to see those parts of her that she always kept hidden. Not because of her shame, but because she had loved him...once upon a time. But those feelings had long since dissipated. At least on her end, but apparently not on his. She could see it in the way his eyes followed her, how he was quick to come to her defense. But how do you tell a person that you're in love with someone else?

"When was the last time you saw them?" asked a voice behind her.

She sighed as Damon stood next to her. "Not since the late 1600's. First it was because I just couldn't risk going to see them. They would send me the odd letter from wherever they were, when they could. Then, it was because I purposefully didn't go to see them. I knew, after Circe escaped, that she was probably watching me, so I couldn't risk her finding them. That meant no visits, and no letters. They never fully understood. It broke my heart, but I knew in the end that it was the right thing to do."

"It must be amazing to see them again, then," he replied.

"Yes," she murmured, "it is."

"I hate to say this, but...you do realize that Circe probably sent them here to distract you?" He said.

"Yes, and it's working. That's the problem. She knows me well enough to know what will and won't distract me.

On the lawn, Elysia and Marcus watched their daughter, unable to believe that they were actually there with her. 

"Should we be worried about her?" Elysia asked Felix as he came up beside them.

Felix followed their line of sight to see who she meant. "Honestly...I don't know. Things are different now. She's not the same as she once was. She bitterly regrets all the things she's done, and I know she lives with the guilt every day." He watched Gen smile at something Damon said. "She says she will never be that person again, but I wonder often just how far she's willing to go to take down Circe once and for all."

"When was the last time she partook?" Marcus inquired.

"Not long after you parted ways with her. I think she had a kind of...break down, if you want to call it that. It made her rethink things."

"Has she been back there since the incident?"

"Which one?" Felix snorted.

"There's more than one?" Elysia asked incredulously.

"Oh yes. There's the one in Paris, which you know about, then there was one in a town in York in 1650. Another one in the north of Spain in the 13th century, Cairo, in the 5th century, Athens in 1789, and the list goes on. That is until 1792."

"What happened in 1792?" They whipped around to see Stefan approaching, Caroline, Klaus, and Alaric following closely behind.

Felix shrugged. "No one knows. Of the few friends she's made, none of them know. I don't even know. She refuses to talk about it. Anytime I bring it up, she shuts down and won't talk to me for months. Obviously it was something big, something life changing. But I have no idea what happened."

"What do you know?" Marcus pressed. 

"Very little," he sighed. "I saw her in the summer of that year, for a few months. We partied, drank, fornicated, without a care in the world, beyond her desire to find Circe. After 3 months of attending lavish balls, she up and disappeared. Left a note with my housekeeper at the time saying she was taking a break from her search, and would be gone for while, seeing the world without the distraction of a hunt." 

"After that, I didn't hear from her for almost a year, she showed up, out of nowhere, a changed woman, refusing to talk about what had transpired in her absence. But from then on, she was different. Never drank another drop of blood, never harmed another person, never formed attachments to anyone, except for a chosen few that she counted as close friends, and even that was rare."

"And you never found out what happened?" Alaric asked.

"No. Genevieve...she doesn't open up easily, not even with me. She has many secrets, most of which she will never reveal. But the truth is, I'm not entirely sure I want to know. Whatever it was to have made my sister into a different person, it must have been something terrible. And that thought terrifies me, because my sister isn't easily broken. She's been alive for over 2,000 years, long than most countries have been in existence. She has seen empires rise and fall, great world leaders and thinkers pass on, experienced much heartbreak, and still never broke."

"Perhaps," Klaus mused, "but it makes one wonder, how long before the weight of a soul becomes to heavy for one to carry?"

Stefan scoffed. "You've killed how many people Klaus? And you've been alive for a millenia. Yet, you've never seemed to crumble under that weight."

"Yes, well, it's a cross I'm willing to bear," he smirked.