The Last Petrova

The Damage Has Already Been Done

"Elijah, let's just go," Rebekah says, grabbing Elijah's hand. "The faster we move, the faster we'll be free from all of mother's-" Rebekah abruptly stops talking when Elijah jerks his hand away from her and instead points a finger at Klaus. 

"Niklaus-"

"What?" Klaus says exasperatedly. "What do you want me to say, Elijah? Do you actually expect me to feel sorry for sleeping with your ex-girlfriend? The girl whom you left for dead nearly a century ago?" Klaus says.

"Niklaus, that is not-"

"Give it a rest, Elijah! Go find some other 'innocent' young brunette to pursue. Leave the one person who managed to escape your curse of rendering every love you meet in eternal torture alone," he says.

I pull my shirt back on, and avert my gaze from Elijah. Elijah's a man of his word. He's a man of his word. He's not going to- he wouldn't tell- no, not now. Not now, not when, after so many centuries, I've finally just gotten everything I could have ever wanted-

"Niklaus," Elijah says in a calm voice, as if he's trying to make Klaus understand, "You cannot-"

"You don't get to tell me what to and what not to do, Elijah! Look at what you're doing now!" Klaus says, gesturing to Rebekah and Kol. "You've decided to leave me here, while you and my siblings rush off in the other direction, together, as a family. If you're going to put me through that, then you don't get to bloody control who I get to care for and love!"

Love. Love.

He loves me.

"Love?" Elijah whispers, taking a menacing step forward. "Niklaus, you do not love this woman," he says, moving his outstretched finger towards me.

"Elijah-"

"Listen to me!" Elijah screams, cutting over his brother's words. "You talk about a 'curse' of mine, one where every woman I have ever loved meets a terrible end. And perhaps you are right. Look at Tatia. And at Katerina. Tatia met death through my mother, and Katherine has spent half a millennium being chased by you. But her?" Elijah says, staring at me, "An entirely different fate has been chosen for her. While Tatia and Katerina's lives were poisoned, Helena- she herself has been turned to poison. I am telling you this, brother, not for myself, but for you. You cannot love her. You have no idea what she is capable of-"

"What she is capable of?" Klaus roars. "How would you know of the great things that she is capable of, when it was you who always kept her pushed down and on a leash like some pet of yours for three bloody centuries? It was only after you finally left her that she was unburdened. She was able to rise and become one of the most powerful, smart, and fearless vampires this world has ever seen!"

"Yes, Niklaus, she is powerful. Undoubtedly, she is smart, if she has managed to keep you so oblivious for so long. And fearless? I don't know about that, but it is abundantly clear that she does not fear you," Elijah says.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Klaus yells.

'Stop fighting,' I beg inside my mind. 'Please, just stop fighting.' The more heightened Elijahs emotions get, the more likely it is that he will let loose the one secret that-

"Fear is what keeps a person at bay, Niklaus! This is true of everyone! It was your fear of Mikael that prevented you from ripping up the entire world! It was Katerina's fear of you that she learned how to live in secret, instead of chasing after her happy ending! Fear is what keeps the world in order. But Helena?"

"Elijah, just shut up and-"

"She does not fear your anger, which is why she is all that more dangerous to your life!"

"One more word, Elijah, and I will-"

"She is dangerous, Niklaus, why can you not see that-"

"Dangerous? How dare-"

"She is an unpredictable monster-"

"Do you want a bloody dagger in your heart?"

"Niklaus, she was the one who freed Mikael! She freed him, and told him to go after you!"

Finally, Klaus shuts up. An eerie silence rings throughout the room. The only sound that can be heard is the soft thudding noise that is created by my knees hitting the floor. My legs have lost all the strength in them at the shock of it all.

Elijah looks just as shocked as I do. Apparently, he didn't mean for those words to slip out of his mouth, but in the chaos of the moment, they just did.

It's not like his motive matters now, anyway. The damage has already been done.