Heaven help the fool who falls in love

new orleans

It's very different from how I remember it.

They've done a great job with the place.

The streets are alive with music and women in long, loose dresses and feather hats. Klaus would enjoy that, I know.

It's dark when I arrive, yet the place is so alive.

I watch dressed up men and women slip into secret shops and the sound of jazz fill the air while the doors are open.

At last, I find it. The home which I had helped the Mikealsons build, all those many years ago.

The tall, white house towers over me.

I do not knock, I walk straight in.

I am thrown backwards by a sudden and forcefully strength around me.

A whiff of the sweet perfume, reminds me not to defend myself.

I hug Rebekah back, just as tight.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," she says, still not loosening her grip.

I laugh, "I missed you, too."

Another figure zooms down the stairs. 

"Give us all a chance to say hello, " says a smirking Kol, who throws Rebekah off me so he can take her place.

His hug feels so comforting, so familiar, like home. 

Nostalgia fills the air.

"I'm not letting you go ever again," he whispers to me. 

The youngest Mikealson had always had a soft spot for me, not in any romantic way, but we had always been there for each other. And he'd always had a great interest in my witch ways, unlike the others.

I hear slow footsteps enter the room. The click of dress shoes. Elijah.

I look up to see the dark haired man, still dresses in the same clean suit, just as I had left him.

Some things never change.

Elijah does not hug me. 

He nods at me and says in a formal tone, "I trust you have been well, Opehlia and am grateful you have come to my dear brother, Niklaus' help."

I smile at him. I have missed him in all his formality.

"Oh come on brother, don't make everything sound so businessy, this is Ophelia after all," Kol pesters Elijah. 

Elijah smiles at the ground, "I am glad you're home, Opehlia', he says earnestly.

"So am I," says a voice from the top of the stairs. My heart stops. The husky, devilish voice is so familiar, too familiar.

I turn slowly to face the stairs, I smile slightly and raise my eyes to his, "Hello Niklaus."

He meets my eyes and smiles broadly, "Hello, Ophelia."

"What type of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?" I cross my arms over my chest.

He giggles childishly, "The worse kind."