Only You Can Bring Me Peace - A Haylijah Story

Only You Can Bring Me Peace

He opened his eyes slowly, letting his eyes readjust to the low light.

The first thing he noticed is that he was alone. After he had closed his eyes and the world had gone black around him, he had hoped to open his eyes and his brother would be standing beside him, but there was nobody.

"Niklaus?" He called, but received no answer or response.

The older Mikaelson brother then listened, hoping to find any trace of his brothers' heartbeat. His brow furrowed as he listened, picking up almost a dozen heartbeats within his proximity.

It was then that be noticed the slight hum of light chatter, coming from behind the row of trees to his left. The closer he walked, the more he noticed.

There was a fire lit, several fires lit, and he could smell the smoke. As he got closer to the tree line, the noise and voices quietened, leaving a lone heartbeat.

A faint floral scent caught Elijah's nose, and he stopped in his tracks, if only for a moment, before he began walking again. His pace quickened as he reached the clearing and broke through the last line of trees.

This time, Elijah came to a complete sudden stop, the usually overly practised Original almost tumbling over a fallen tree stump that laid at his feet after his black coat got awkwardly caught on one of the lower tree branches. He sighed heavily, reaching around to tear it away.

"You need some help with that?"

Her voice came from behind him, but he gave no response, hoping that he wasn't dreaming. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping that the angelic voice would speak again.

"Elijah?"

The man in question breathed a heavy sigh of relief and turned around, his coat long forgotten as he tore the lining, effectively freeing himself from the branch.

And there she was, standing less than fifteen feet away from him, holding a pair of beer bottles in one hand.

"You're here? How? What happened, is everyone else okay? What about Hope?" Hayley panicked, firing questions at the Original as he walked closer towards her.

"I will explain everything to you, I promise. But first I must do something. Apologise. Hayley, I did..." Elijah wanted to continue, but was stopped by a hand clamped over his mouth.

"You do not need to apologise to me, Elijah. Nobody does, not you, not Hope, not anybody."

"Hayley, I simply cannot live with myself..." Elijah carried on, only to be interrupted again, of course.

"Well, you aren't doing a very good job of living right now are you?" She quipped, raising one eyebrow.

"Apparently not." Elijah frowned.

"Come, tell me what happened." Hayley took her loves' hand, and lead him over to the recently departed campfire. They sat beside each other on a log bench, and she handed him one of the beer bottles she had been holding.

"The Hollow is why we're here, the magic got too much. It was killing Hope from the inside out, we had to do something, so we did." Elijah started, gravely.

"We were in Mystic Falls. Klaus had Caroline's daughters siphon the Hollow from Hope and he put it in himself. It was an even trade, her life for his."

"Is Klaus alright? And Hope?" Hayley asked, the panic returning to her eyes.

"Hope is fine, she is safe back in New Orleans with our family. I believe Rebekah and Marcel are planning to return her to Mystic Falls when school starts again. Niklaus, however, shares the same fate as I." Elijah looked down at his hands as he spoke, which was not a common move for the suit-laden vampire.

"So you're really here? For good, not just temporarily?" Hayley's eyes widened. When she had first seen him, she hadn't let herself dream of ever seeing him again, let alone have a conversation with him. Of course, Hayley had never wanted Elijah to meet such a fate, but she had only imagined what would happen when they came to meet each other again.

"This is not temporary. I had thought that Niklaus would be here, but apparently not." Elijah's eyes scoured the tree line that he had emerged from, looking for any signs of the Original Hybrid.

"You will find him, that I can promise you. When I first landed here, I was all alone too, but now I'm not. Josh is here with Aiden, Cami too. Everyone who we have lost found their way back here, to the quarter." Hayley reached over with her hand that wasn't holding her bottle to hold Elijah's free hand. She had seen first hand for so many years, Elijah torment himself with what should have been and what could have been, and she would have it no longer.

"Come on, let's go and see if we can find your brother."

The walk back to the quarter was long, but Elijah savoured every moment of it. Never did he think that he would have a chance like this again after he had lost her. They walked at a steady pace, each of them clutching at the other's hand tightly.

Elijah's eyes roamed around the quarter, mostly out of surprise. When he had decided that he would die with his brother, he had no idea what life after death would look like. Would it be a total blackness, or something else? Elijah had certainly not expected to walk into his home town with the love of his life, down the familiar streets he had been walking for years.

The streets were bustling with people. It was as if he were back in New Orleans and it had never happened. People wearing beaded necklaces and holding canteens of alcoholic beverages walked by them as they walked through the street celebrating Mardi Gras. Hayley must have noticed his surprise, because she spoke.

"I was surprised too when I first landed here. It is as if nothing ever happened, right?" Elijah nodded mutely as she spoke.

"I will be back in just a second, wait here." Elijah nodded, he continued to watch the end of the parade as Hayley disappeared into a small gift shop. She returned moments later, clutching a bag.

"This is for you." Hayley offered him the decorated bag apprehensively.

He smiled, reaching for the bag and opening it. He smiled widely when he was the contents. He reached in, pulling out Hayley's purchase.

"Flip flops." He continued to smile, remembering his and Hayley's conversation all of those years ago.

"You'll need them, I have your jean shorts back at home." Elijah grinned one more time, and it was at that moment that Hayley leant in, and it was if no time had passed for them at all.

It felt like their immense feelings of love and adoration were flowing through them as they kissed for the first time in almost a decade. It had been far too long for both of them.

"I love you." Elijah spoke quietly as they pulled away, resting their foreheads together.

"I love you, too." Hayley was smiling widely, she closed her eyes and savoured the words he spoke.

The pair stayed together for a few moments longer before continuing on their journey to find Niklaus. Their search turned out to be short-lived as they found him in the first place they looked. He was sitting where they expected him to be, on his favourite barstool in Rousseau's, with a glass of bourbon in his hand and Camille at his side where he knew she belonged.

Elijah knew that he would miss his family terribly, but he knew he would see them again, and he would look forward to it, but Elijah knew that this was exactly where he needed to be...

With the love of his long life at his side for the rest of their wonderful existence.