Severed Heaven (Niklaus and Elijah Mikaelson)

Chapter Thirty-Two: Some People Are Worth Melting For

France, 1312

On this day I had fast-forwarded to the Thursday market. Strolling pas the butchers, bakers and farm holders, I wondered I'd be willing to give up if only to rewind back to the afternoon when Niklaus and I had last spoken. Or when I first took him on a tour of our property and how, with one thing leading to the next, we'd found ourselves approaching the empty scorched lot by the abandoned train tracks where I received my first real glance.

And I knew it right then, despite my denial, I always knew that there was something between us from the very beginning. Anyone my age would've known, seen, discovered. Clearly, without knowing it truthfully, both him and I had known it.

Just when I was thinking about him while deciding between the red and green apples, there he suddenly was. The symmetry of it all, or was it the emptied, seemingly ransacked neatness of the moment, which tied a knot in my throat? His smile reminded me of all good things. It reminded me of this summer as the first sign of autumn were starting to fall. Was that a sign that I should give up on this love? Was I running out of time?

His shoulder brushed against mine almost romantically, however, the mass of people surrounding us made it much less intimate of a moment.

"Elizabeth, I need a word." He said after I paid the salesman.

When I glanced at him, surprised that he came looking for me here out of all places, I figured that this was a test run for either our final separation, or our union at last. "That's odd. I did not hear you say please." I teased him.

He looked at me as if a glorious stay was ending too soon, which caught me by surprise as I'd never seen this face before. I enjoyed this, however. There was nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realise that you've been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time was like going to the circus and staring a the outside of the tent, which was not how this relationship worked between Niklaus and I— but I was guilty of pressuring him into confessing, just because I needed to see what was underneath it all. I needed to know whether fighting for this love wasn't the wrong choice. Now that I was looking into his eyes, I was certain that it wasn't.

It cut deep to know him right through the bone, but it had been worth it. Even when he wasn't around, when he was out on those nights when I counted the minutes the hours, the sounds, because I knew exactly what he and his siblings did out there.

His fingers curled around my wrist rather gently, and I really looked at him for the first time. There was something on the tip of his tongue, wasn't there? "Elizabeth, I have struggled in vain, but I can bear it no longer." He admitted without ignominy or reluctancy at all. To my delight, he was showing me the bare truth, but what if I couldn't take it? "The past days have been a torment..." He trailed off into silence.

Yes, the past days− the days in between our last conversation about my mother up until right now. The hours without him had been taunting me, too. "This is not the time, Niklaus, nor the place." I said nervously, showing him a weak smile.

I instantly wanted to take those words back, and let him finish right here, in the middle of the crows of people, but I knew my gut had been right the first time.

And just when I realised the reason to why this moment was perfect, why he'd chosen to tell me the truth right here and right now, I caught sight of one of his brothers in the short distance. It wasn't Kol, nor was it Finn, whom I did not get along with, no, it was Elijah. He was safely watching from a distance, and I wondered why, but did not question it.

What I did question was my fairness of response to Niklaus's confession. I had been dying to hear the truth. I had been dying to hear him plead for this love, as I had been. Then, why was I hesitant about the place and time?