Always & Forever + Elijah Mikaelson

nine; big bad wolf

The next few days were rocky. Since they'd had to reschedule with the witch that might hold the solution to Octavia's problem, she wasn't able to meet with them again until a week later. Octavia wasn't sure if she was busy or just annoyed that they hadn't shown up to the first meeting.

Either way, Octavia could suddenly feel herself getting weaker as the seconds rolled by. It was just little stuff; she'd be sitting on the couch in the sitting room and then suddenly not remember where she was at all for half a second, or she'd get up and leave a room and not for the life of her be able to remember what she'd left for, or she'd be looking at Elijah as he tried to tend to her and for just a moment, his face wouldn't register in her mind.

Like Freya had said, though, drinking either Elijah, Kol, or Niklaus' blood helped tremendously. Just a sip seemed to reset her mind completely for a few hours at a time. All three of the brothers had let Freya draw a decent amount of blood from them so that Octavia always had some on hand.

The main problem that she was having was that the brothers wouldn't really let her leave her bed much. Octavia had never seen them agree on something as much as they agreed on the fact that she needed to be completely taken care of.

"Nik, please let me go for a walk or something! Being stuck in this compound is killing me faster than whatever the hell this disease is!"

Octavia whined to her current watcher as he sat in the desk chair across from her in her bedroom reading a book. His blue eyes flicked up to meet hers and she could almost see him thinking about it. He smirked just slightly and stopped to do what she knew was listen for his brothers elsewhere in the compound. She listened too and heard nothing.

"Please, Nik!"

She whined again, and he thought about it for a second more.

"I'm coming with you, you know that, right?"

Nik asked her, and she nodded. Normally, she would have wished he wouldn't and would have wanted to be alone, but in that moment she was so desperate to get out that it didn't even matter.

"A short walk."

Klaus spoke again, his tone stern.

"Whatever you say!"

Octavia hopped out of bed and shoved her feet into a pair of combat boots and threw on a leather jacket. She smiled at Nik excitedly as he led her towards the front of the compound.

Out on the street, she breathed in the fresh air and felt happier than she had in a long time. The city smelled mostly the same; street food and the aroma of dusty old voodoo shops and bars and novelty stores with the mixture of cheap perfume and beer on humans' breaths. It smelled like home and relished in it.

She knew Nik was watching her every move carefully; she could almost smell his anticipation. If she could have heard his thoughts, she was sure that he was thinking that she was going to run away at any moment. She wasn't, though. She didn't care that she had a babysitter, she was just so happy to be back in her city.

They walked silently together for a long time. She was surprised that he was letting it go on for so long, but at the same time she knew not to say anything in case he was about to tell her they had to go back.

"How are you feeling?"

Nik asked the question finally, and Octavia hesitated before answering.

"Alive."

She said the word finally, causing Nik's face to break out in a huge smile. She smiled back at him and, without really thinking about it, took his hand in hers. He wrapped his fingers around hers and squeezed just slightly.

"I've missed you, you crazy little thing."

Nik's words shot through the air so quietly that Octavia had to take a second to make sure she'd heard them right.

"I've missed you too, big bad wolf."

Her response made him smile again.

"Octavia, I-"

Nik spoke, but was cut off by Octavia ripping her hand away from his and getting a faraway look in her eye that he instantly recognized.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

The questions flew out of her mouth, and it was obvious she was frightened.

"Octavia, here. You need to feed on me."

Nik ripped into the flesh of his own hand and offered it to her.

"What? No! Leave me alone!"

In a second, she was gone from his side. He looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it."

He mumbled the words to himself, rushing back to the compound.