Two Lost Souls

Prologue

He watches helplessly as the tears roll down his brother's face. He can barely remember the last time he saw him like this. He's used to seeing Niklaus react in anger whenever things don't go his way, but this silent despair is something he hasn't seen in... In a thousand years. He has always known that in spite of his vehement denial, his brother's love for the baby was unconditional and stronger than anything he had ever felt before. He fears losing his son is going to break him. Just as the thought crosses his mind, he senses a shift in the air. He looks around, trying to figure out what just happened. The witches left hours ago after they failed to save the child, yet there seems to be something almost magical in the room. Dark. Powerful. Dangerous.

A feeling of unease slowly creeps its way into his heart and he frowns. Something feels very wrong and though he knows that both he and his brother are pretty much indestructible, he also knows that until he has recovered, Niklaus will be of no use should they have to fight. Deciding they have overstayed their welcome, Elijah turns back towards the hybrid to tell him they need to leave now, but what he sees leaves him speechless with shock and fear. Two feelings he does not deal well with.

While Niklaus was cradling the boy's body to his chest only seconds ago, silently rocking back and forth as he cried, his son is now resting on the filthy floor of the crypt, the gaping wound in his chest made even more sinister by the darkness surrounding him. Niklaus has risen from his kneeling position and he stands tall and proud. There are no traces of tears left on his cheeks and his eyes are completely dry... and empty. Elijah almost gasps as he finally realizes what this shift he sensed was.

He tries to analyze the implications, but as it has never happened before, he isn't sure even he is going to be able to foresee the consequences. The only thing he knows for sure is that both Humanity and the supernatural community are going to suffer deeply until he manages to find a solution to this unexpected disaster.

For for the first time in a thousand years, his brother has turned his humanity off.

"You know Marcel. He'll stop at nothing. He doesn't need Nik to hand him this opportunity on a silver platter. If he finds out..."

"He won't."

"Damn it Elijah! We've tried everything. You've been covering up his messes for weeks now, somewhat successfully, I'll admit, but you know you're bound to slip up eventually. If word gets out that Nik has turned it off, there will be hell to pay. His one and only redeeming quality has always been the fact that he cared, in spite of everything. If our allies find out he doesn't care about this town anymore, if they figure out he's not trying to free them, they'll turn their backs on him."

Elijah opens his mouth to reply, but before he can, the voice they both know so well rings out from behind them.

"And I'll kill every single one of them if it comes down to it. Relax, little sister. It's touching really, how worried you are about my safety. It must be exhausting though. I think you should turn it off too. You know, take the pain away."

Sensing what is coming, Rebekah stiffens and resorts to pleading, though she knows how useless it is, "Nik, don't."

"Why not? It's not like you don't know I'm right, deep down. The girl who loved too easily. And got hurt even more easily. I assure you, everything is much easier when you just don't feel," he taunts as he walks up to them, fixing Elijah with an impassive stare, wondering what plot his brother is devising this time to make him turn it back on.

Trying to convince Rebekah to turn off her humanity and join him in the land of careless fun has been his game for the past three weeks, but seeing his brother fail again and again in his attempts to make him feel something – anything – is almost as entertaining as seeing the hurt in his sister's eyes every time he points out how useless and painful her whole existence is.