Always & Forever + Elijah Mikaelson

one; now

2017

As Octavia walked out of the airport, she could almost smell the Mikaelsons in the air. It had been nearly seventy-five years since she'd seen and heard of most of them, but she remembered the way they smelled and the mark they left like she'd been in their presence just the day before.

The city itself absolutely stunk of vampires and werewolves. They were both scents she knew well seeing as they both ran deep inside her. As far as she knew, she was one of the first (if not the very first) hybrids of both werewolf and vampire that her once-beloved Niklaus Mikaelson had ever concocted. At the time, she'd been so excited that he'd chosen her, but now she wasn't so sure.

Octavia walked around aimlessly for a while, remembering the streets she'd once known so well. She'd been born in New Orleans and had lived there for the first twenty-seven years of her immortal life. In comparison to the number of years she'd spent traveling the world and never really putting roots down anywhere, twenty-seven didn't really seem like much but as she wandered the streets she realized for maybe the first time ever that she'd never been as happy anywhere as she had been in New Orleans. Whether that was because of her long-dead family or because of a certain pair of Original Vampire brothers, she couldn't be sure.

A while later, she felt someone following her. She recognized his scent immediately but let him trail her for a while because she knew it must've been making him feel very important. Kol Mikaelson had always taken great pleasure in being sneaky.

Finally, as she led him into a dark alley, she turned on her heel to face him. Bracing her arm across his neck, she pinned him roughly to the wall of the bar they'd just walked past. He sputtered in surprise and then smiled cheekily.

"You know I don't like to be followed, Koley."

Octavia growled the words at him, flashing her almost-fluorescent yellow werewolf eyes and letting her vampire fangs and the veins underneath her eyes come out. Kol chuckled.

"Yes, and you know how much I loathe being called 'Koley'."

He whipped her arm off of him and engulfed her into a giant hug. She hugged him back gratefully and had to push down the urge to cry. She'd missed him. While she'd been off being a complete idiot with Niklaus and Elijah all those years ago, she and Kol had quickly formed a very close friendship. He was maybe the only real best friend she'd ever had. They kept in contact over the years to keep each other up to date with the basics of their lives, but Octavia couldn't remember the last time she'd actually seen him. She guessed it had to have been at least twenty or thirty years. It wasn't his fault, of course. Niklaus had a nasty habit of keeping his siblings daggered in a box when they displeased him.

"You're too adorable to be called anything else. I've told you that a million times."

As she spoke, the tears that she'd been trying so valiantly to push down poured over her eyes and down her cheeks. Kol pulled away and swiped at them with his thumb.

"Don't cry, love. Come on, we've got to get out of the Quarter before either of my brothers get wind of you being here. I know where we can go to talk."