SIDE CHARACTER [ 1 ]| THE ORIGINALS & LEGACIES

N I N E T E E N

I had his full attention. He stared at me as if I had ripped his heart out, and with the mention of my mother, I might as well have. He eyed me suspiciously, like suddenly he no longer trusted me.

He scaled me up and down before asking, "What game are you playing?"

The words cut like knives, the doubt hit me as if he had thrown something at me. I stared at him, tears spilling from my cheeks, yet he had a reason to believe I was joking.

"Chose your words wisely here, brother," Klaus warned him.

I turned to my uncle. He kept his chin up, and looked at me with eyes that said he believed in me. He stared at my father, a serious look in his eyes.

"Niklaus, you tell me you believe that this girl is my daughter?" Elijah asked, pointing at me and talking as if I weren't in the room.

"She is the splitting image of you and Lorelle," Klaus said. "Even you cannot deny that."

"Stop saying her name!" Elijah said, his voice louder than I ever heard him raise it to. He looked at me, and I looked at him with fear. He shook his head. "I refuse to believe that Lorelle was pregnant and did not tell me. Plus, if she had been, how is it that you are still here in front of us? Do you mean to tell us that you were raised by your mother and then a vampire turned you?"

"I never got the honor of meeting my mother," I said, pushing past the doubt in his tone, and walking towards him slowly. He backed away with every advance I made. "She died when I was born."

"Who raised you then?" he asked.

"Who else?" I asked, letting out a scoff. "I'm a firstborn Mikaelson. Dahlia took me, of course."

He looked at me like he was trying to convince himself not to believe me, and he continued to shake his head.

"You are false."

"Dad-Elijah," I spoke, my voice strained. "When you met me, you had a look in your eyes because of my name. The name you and Lorelle had picked out before she had ever fallen pregnant. The name Esther decided to give me before surrendering me to Dahlia!"

He looked even more hurt at the mention of his mother.

"My mother knew Lorelle was pregnant?"

"Your mother delivered me."

Before Elijah could continue to accuse me of lies, Klaus spoke up, stating, "It makes sense, brother, that Lorelle would hide her pregnancy and mother help her. Mother knew of the curse, she knew that Dahlia would be coming for the baby."

"My mom didn't have it in her to watch you get your baby ripped from you," I said, my voice cracking.

Tears were flowing down my face, and now his as well.

"Where have you been all these years?" Elijah asked, his voice cracking as he stared at me, finally acceptance shining through his eyes.

"For sixteen years of my life, Dahlia kept me separated from Aunt Freya so she wouldn't attempt to break me free. Then she used the spell Esther used on you guys, but modified it so nothing could kill me, not even white oak. Marcel's venom also bares no affect on me. She left me desiccated for five hundred years, and I spent a year just trying to live, trying to get time back. I stayed away from this family, for a while wanting nothing to do with it," I spoke truthfully. "But then I got curious about my father, about the man my mother wrote about in the journals of hers I had. So, I watched you guys from afar. I was there when New Orleans burnt to the ground, and I was there when Klaus was in Chicago. I fell in love with Stefan Salvatore."

"I remember," Klaus interrupted. "When Stefan spoke of a Lilah, but when I asked him again after a Halloween party, he claimed he never knew a person named Lilah. I just assumed that was code for 'it went South', which I guess it did."

"I can compel other vampires," I said. "I left when you and I got too close to meeting, Uncle Niklaus. I didn't want to be apart of the family, I just wanted to see you guys from afar. I didn't want to complicate your already complicated lives with my existence."

"You're my daughter, I would have accepted you," Elijah said, and I cried harder when he acknowledged me as his daughter.

"I didn't want you to feel sad that you didn't get to raise me," I said. "I didn't want you to feel bad that you couldn't protect me."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Same reasons," I said.

He walked towards me tentatively, like if he walked too fast, it would scare me off. As he was right in front of me, he pulled me into a hug, holding my head onto his shoulder.

"You're my daughter," he mumbled into my hair, his grip tightening as I felt sobs course through his body. "Oh my, God."

I wrapped my arms around him back, trying to comfort him.

"I'm so sorry, Lilah Rae," he said, pulling away but holding my face in his hands endearingly. "You look so much like you're mother."

"She looks like you, Elijah," Klaus said, smiling at us. "I'll let you two have your moment."

"Wait, Niklaus," Elijah said. "What are we to do about hope?"

"I have no clue," Klaus said, beginning to walk away. He stopped, adding, "But tell no one else. I want Freya to have a happy wedding."

--

to those of you who enjoy teen wolf, I have a crossover for it with the originals called Interlaced, if you want to check it out! Here's the overview just in case:

Something big hits Mystic Falls often. Werewolves, kanimas, the nogitsune, ghost riders. It was only time before they meet a vampire running from her past. Crysandra couldn't run forever, especially not when the next thing to hit Mystic Falls could only be defeated with the help of people from her past: the Mikaelson family.