Elijah Mikaelson & The Dragon's Legacy

Chapter 20

Elijah awoke early as the sun shone through the balcony doors. Angelica was still asleep, nestled under his arm against his chest, and for a moment he was taken back 400 years to when waking up with Angelica like this was a daily, blissful occurrence. He held still not wanting to wake her but the sunlight had other ideas and soon she began to stir. She opened her eyes and looked up at Elijah. He kissed her forehead and asked her how she was feeling. She sat up and apologized to him for last night, for losing control. Elijah shook his head and told her she had nothing to be sorry for, that he should have been more sensitive to how she felt. Angelica replied that it was clear they needed to talk and they agreed to do just that.

Elijah left her room so that Angelica could shower and change clothes. She was still in her now wrinkled evening gown and Elijah was in an equally ruffled tuxedo. Elijah returned to his room and showered and changed clothes, as well. They joined each other on the couch in the study and spent the day just talking to each other.

Elijah had wanted Angelica to talk about how she felt but instead, after 300 years of keeping his emotions in check, of putting his family's needs ahead of his own, of generally denying himself and lying to himself, Elijah Mikaelson put all his cards on the table. He told her everything. How Niklaus got him out of Spain and their eventual landing in New Orleans. Of the wars with witches and werewolves all so Niklaus could be king of New Orleans. Of continually loving and losing love: Lisette, Celeste, Katherine, Gia and even Hayley. He spoke of Marcel Gerard who he looked to as a son and pulled away from for Niklaus' sake, breaking Elijah's heart in the process but a necessary sacrifice for Niklaus.

Elijah had forgotten how easy it was for him to talk honestly to Angelica and it was a relief. She did not judge him. She understood him. And she listened, looking at him with those green eyes so full of compassion and empathy. Elijah looked for signs he had told her too much, he did not want to hurt her, but all he saw in her face was love. He spoke of his family and everything he had done in the last eight years because he saw Hope as his family's salvation, as Niklaus' salvation. And then he spoke of all the deeds he had done, all he had killed to save his family, including the most regretted action of killing Marcel and destroying Davina, and the guilt he carried for all of it. And for all his efforts Finn died, they all nearly died, and Elijah ultimately did die at the hands of The Hollow. Elijah's efforts to thwart destiny were defeated at every turn and he felt lost and helpless against it, and the guilt of his actions was crushing his very soul. He did not feel worthy of anyone's love, let alone Angelica's love, as he was truly a monster.

Angelica listened to every word Elijah spoke, touching his hand on occasion as he spoke from his heart and let out all the pain he had been keeping inside. In their 80 years together she had never seen anything like this in him and the 300 years they had spent apart seem to have led him down a path of heartache after heartache, disaster after disaster, until he could take no more. That was the pain and desperation she saw in his face on the tarmac, Elijah had reached the end of his rope and seemed ready to die, again, to escape that pain. He was beaten down by it all and as destiny would have it, she was brought back into his life in time to offer him his own salvation, his escape into a new life, a rebirth. She had been reborn at that water's edge after she had given up on life only to have salvation in the form of a young Mason Dragonetti dropped into her life. She hoped in her heart that she was that savior for Elijah, but only Elijah could decide that for himself.

Since she had allowed the memory sharing hers was more clarification than questions. Elijah had many and she did her best to fill in the gaps, to provide context to what he had seen in her memories. His first question was about how Angelica had been severed from Elijah's sire link. She told him about Mason Dragonetti, Warlock and her ward initially, but now more like a respected father. She dedicated herself to Mason's protection but Mason had seen over their first 60 years together that Angelica was suffering, suffering from the memories of her captivity, suffering even more from being separated from Elijah. She was torn between her desire to stay with Mason and her desire to find Elijah. But she was determined that she would not abandon Mason but Mason decided to alleviate her suffering and thought severing the link would be the way.