Awaiting a Changing fate ↠ Elijah Mikaelson

09

"When you invited my family around, I wasn't expecting receiving the full tour" Elijah remarked, walking through the halls of Lottie's manor

"Maybe I needed some time to ask you if you have brought that page from your mothers grimoire?" She played

"Luckily" Elijah slid a brown, stained sheet from his inner pocket and slipped it into her hands "there are multiple spells there; hopefully you can combine them to fulfil your desire"

Lottie took them quickly; she felt that if she left them longer he would take them back. "Thankyou; you don't know how much this means" she nodded her head to him

"And so, carrying on with the tour?" Elijah asked,

"Do you really want a tour of the house?" She chuckled "I only made it up, that you wanted one so I could get you alone"

"Precisely, I feel that this is the time we can actually have moments alone; as these are the times I can see you for your true self" Elijah trailed after her

"My true self?" She asked, carrying on walking, but her head twisted slightly so she could see him from the corner of her eye "I'd like to think my personalities are quite consistent"

"I just believe your qualities are glassed over when you're in public, like you have to fake your smiles, your interests for the benefits of others" Elijah explained in a bit more detail, he tried to word it not to offend her.

As he walked down the long, never-ending hall, he looked at the serious paintings of her ancestors.

Eventually, the large paintings began to form in to people he actually knew. Cherié Gortenis Lottie's grandmother, William and his wife were next down the line.

He came across Lottie's painting, though it looked a little odd, especially when there was another one of her next to it.

Elijah retraced his steps and looked at the plaque underneath the painting Josephine Gortenis

"Who is this?" He asked, stopping Lottie from continuing.

She walked to his side and looked up in awe at the girl in the picture. "She's my sister" she smiled, reminiscing the times they had together "she was the first victim of these awful killings; though she didn't have a great few days before that"

"What happened?" Elijah asked with sympathy and curiosity

"Josie was always closer to mother than father, so when mother died, my sister wasn't the best person towards my father" she explained "they fought and fought, a few days before she died, father hit her and told her to get out of his home; he cursed and threatened her with death if she ever would return"

"She left; and she actually went to stay with William; until she went missing one day and was found in the forest" Lottie gulped "I found her"

"You don't have to talk about this" Elijah stopped her "I'd prefer you not to; I can see how it hurts you"

"I see her face every night when I go to bed, that scared expression she had before she died" Lottie carried on "I can only imagine what she went through; I found myself wondering why it wasn't me in that coffin"

"I'm sure if you're reckless enough, you will be soon" Elijah said, his hand finding its way to the bottom of her back to move her on and change the subjects

"Yes we better move" she said "William
Will be wondering where we had gotten off to"

"Ah yes, William" Elijah recalled "Lottie, may I ask you something, please do not take it in the wrong way"

"Of course"

"Are you happy?" He asked seriously, she didn't look it and she didn't act her true self around him

"Why wouldn't I be?" She asked her eyes darting around the room and to the floor

And that was all the answer Elijah needed. If she was happy, she would have said yes, though she didn't even answer the question. She wasn't happy in that relationship, maybe because it was more public than she would like?

Maybe William was the wrong person? Or maybe Elijah was wishful thinking.

"I was wondering where you two had gotten off to" William commented as Elijah and Lottie returned to the dining hall "the food is almost ready"

By that time, everybody had already sat down. Joseph was at the top of the rectangular table, William was at the bottom. Niklaus was placed with a chair next to him.

Lottie turned to the seat next to William and Elijah automatically sat down beside her; leaving Klaus alone.

He didn't care, Niklaus just smirked.

"I was just telling Elijah about my sister" Lottie spoke up as they waited; the somewhat normal silence turned cold as the brothers witnessed Joseph's facial expression turned to thunder.

And nobody realised it, apart from Lottie but William's face changed in a way too. He looked down and began to fidget uncontrollably.

"Lottie you know better than to ever say that name again" Joseph spat "she is no longer part of our family"

"She is very much part of our family" Lottie retaliated, oblivious to the company "she is my sister; your daughter"

"She was an abomination" Joseph raised his voice too

"She was Innocent" Lottie managed to push out, her anger overflowed as her skin began to turn red

"She was pregnant!" Joseph stood up, his hands slammed against the mahogany table, shaking the cups and dishes "out of wedlock, I could never recall a time I felt so ashamed"

"She was pregnant?" Lottie asked, this news was very very new to her "pregnant? And you felt so embarrassed by it, you took her out to the woods and you murdered her in cold blood"

"How dare you accuse me of such things" Joseph hissed "I would never do that, the worst I could do is shun her from our family, from our coven; she wasn't the girl I thought she was"

"Would you like to shun me too father?" She asked, Elijah stared up at her, wondering what she was about to say... Worrying "because I'm not the perfect witch you see me as, in fact I'm not only a witch, but a..."

"... A human too" Elijah interrupted quickly, making the words up as he went along "I think she's going to say that she has thoughts and feelings like everybody else; and she doesn't appreciate being told this information in front of company"

Elijah's hand rubbed Lottie's back for comfort and to calm her down.

"Elijah please, I know you mean well but this is between me and my daughter" Joseph commented.

"No it's okay" Lottie added "have your dinner without me, I'm going to bed" she stood up, throwing her napkin on to her place at the table before storming upstairs.

But she didn't go straight to bed, she went to Josephine's room.