fic: Love Stories for Dead People

[angelette]

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries
Language: English
Rating: PG-13
Word count: ~1.900
Spoilers: 4x11
Relationships: Klaus/Elena
Warnings: none.
Disclaimers: I don't own TVD.
Summary: Elena turns to Klaus for help after Jeremy's kidnapped. Written for mockerybird's prompt on tvd_originals ficathon.
Download link on AO3


A/N: Prompt: "What we have here is a dreamer. When she jumped, she probably thought she'd fly."

Love Stories for Dead People

“Is this our routine now?” Klaus asks in a suspiciously cheery voice, and Elena can’t help but wonder who died by his hands today.

She steps inside the living room warily, though she doesn’t show it. She always faced Klaus with defiance and this time won’t be any different.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replies automatically, and secretly she’s glad she can stall a little with idle quips, she has at least a little time to collect her thoughts and list her reasons in her mind.

“Oh, love, this.” He motions toward Elena and back at himself with a theatric gesture and a glass of blood in his hand. “You beg for my help on every Thursday. You surely know I’m not one of your white knights. You can’t expect me to do your bidding, just because you bat your eyelashes at me.”

Elena crosses her arms across her chest, the position of defense and denial, though she can’t really disregard his statement, because she did ask for his help the last time. Not Stefan’s, not anyone’s, but his.

“I am asking you to help me because we want the same thing, not because you care about me.”

But if she’s honest – and she has to be honest at least with herself – she asked him, because there wasn’t anyone else left, and she’s not that suicidal and reckless what everyone thinks: She needed help and she wasn’t ashamed to ask for it. Stefan was too busy wallowing in his hurt and she can’t help but feel disappointed. They went through so much together as a couple, as friends and all the battles against werewolves, other vampires, and curses brought them together. Even if the ‘in love’ part was gone, he shouldn’t have ignored her, Damon and Jeremy.

She feels the betrayal wound her again, though she tries hard to chalk it up as thoughtless decision on Stefan’s part, but she can’t find excuses for everything and everyone. It hit her when she started to plan Kol’s demise that she hasn’t even considered to call Bonnie or Caroline. Their tight friendship – which survived a lot even on a supernatural scale – has fallen apart into a million pieces, cracked by the omissions and the judgments. She doesn’t understand how they have come to this, why they reach out not to each other, but to some strangers. Bonnie has Shane, Caroline takes Stefan’s side on everything, and funnily enough, she’s in the living room of her enemy, the man who has ruined everything, who stole her family and whose actions scripted her whole life. She doesn’t know whether to cry or laugh, though she’s so tired of crying.

“And what exactly do you want from me this time?” Klaus continues. “Because last time I saw you, I offered you a deal and you turned that down. I suspect my brother did visit you.”

Elena can only nod curtly and doesn’t want to elaborate. Kol has a taste for violence and it’s enough that she can still smell the blood all around her and see the horrific images of the compelled vampires and their dead bodies.

“My brother loves to make a mess.” Klaus states matter-of-factly. “But you wouldn’t be here, if your brother was dead, so I assume he was kidnapped.”

“Yes,” Elena is surprised how much anger is in her voice. But again, she’s not yet used to being a vampire with all the heightened emotions. She feels her hands clench into fists and the urge to smash something is rising. “Your sister took him.”

“Oh, yes, she and Stefan are reenacting the greatest hits of the 20s,” Klaus laughs lightheartedly. “It sure drives you crazy, Rebekah would love to see you like this, it’d satiate her petty need for vengeance.”

Elena has to force herself to calm down; she unclenches her fingers and takes a few deep breaths. The smell of blood doesn’t help her nerves, and she gives in, she crosses to the bar, and pours herself a glass of the red nectar without asking. Even the first sip warms her up and settles her down. Maybe she should have drink more regularly, she thinks absentmindedly, but in the midst of craziness she doesn’t even have the time to feed.

She’s aware of Klaus’ amused and curious glance, but she tries to ignore it. She doesn’t want to be observed, watched, she doesn’t want anyone’s attention, and she’s had enough of the Salvatore brothers’ tug of war. And it hits her that maybe that’s why she’s here with Klaus. He doesn’t pity her, doesn’t want to cherish her or protect her, at least not gently, only as an asset and she can tolerate that.

“Jeremy has only me, he’s my brother,” Elena says with a new kind of determination. “He’s the only one I care about, and I won’t abandon him.”

She doesn’t say that this is what family looks like, that it’s a love stronger than anything, because she doesn’t want to insinuate that Klaus can’t know anything about this. She tries to tell herself that she’s doing this out of practicality, so Klaus wouldn’t snap, rather than kindness. She doesn’t care about Klaus and his emotions, really.

“I’m sure you know even if I get him back, he has to complete his mark and soon.”

Elena nods again dutifully, she has to deal with this later, convincing Klaus is the only thing that matters now.

“And if I have to, I’ll kill Stefan,” he says it menacingly, in a low voice, and with such dramatics, Elena knows it’s a test, but she can’t help it, she cringes at the words.

“You won’t have to, he will…”

“What?” Klaus cuts her off. “He will turn into your puppy-eyed lover again, if you wait enough? Is that what you think? Don’t lie to yourself, Elena.” He then leans close, as he did on so many occasions when he threatened her – and killed her – and his hatred is almost a palpable thing. “What he’s doing with Rebekah right now, it is pure Stefan; it’s a part of him.”

“But it’s not the only part,” she tries to protest.

“This is your tragedy, Elena,” he says surprisingly soft, and she can’t help but wonder how he can switch between his moods so fast, if it’s a vampire thing. “You adamantly see the best in everyone, but fail to notice the darkness that lurks beneath the surface. And, love, everyone has a dark side, even your beloved Stefan. He is the Ripper, who tears into his victims viciously and rips them apart and he is also the vampire who would have given up everything for you. There is no scale to tip; there is no way to kill off one part, and if you think that, you’re just chasing a dream.”

“You’re wrong.” That’s all she says, before she turns to leave, and hopes with all her heart that she is right.

~oOo~

They’re in a rural part of some European country and they’ve been hunting for the cure for a year now, decoding and following the map. As it turned out it’s not so easily found as Shane said. After Klaus daggered Kol, scared off Stefan and Rebekah, and Jeremy completed his mark, there wasn’t any reason for Elena to stay in Mystic Falls, so she went with Klaus.

She knows she should have tried to fight harder, but the truth is she was tired of everything. The constant fighting – with Damon and their sire bond, with Stefan and his blame game, with Caroline and her judging – drained everything from her, and she didn’t have the time to heal, to mourn her losses, to mend her own broken pieces into something whole.

She was a mess, and the fact that she thought leaving with Klaus was a good idea is just yet another proof of that. But to be honest, living with her enemy wasn’t like she imagined it.

Sure, Klaus sometimes comes back covered in blood, not leaving in doubt that he was merciless and killed the people he drank from, and he ignores Elena’s resentful glances and speeches about blood bags. Sure, he compels her once or twice to forget about her morals and to drink from humans, and even to kill people.

But apart from his violent and ordinary self she could see the human once he was: the child who lost his family, the man who lost his love, the thousand years of betrayal, hurt, anger and grief. More often than not he behaves like a gentleman, charming, talking about the places he saw, the writers and artists he knew, and Elena can’t contain her fascination. She likes to watch him draw or paint and it always reminds her of Jeremy and takes comfort in the familiarity, while numbs the pain of loss. She doesn’t dare to call her brother, but sends letter to him with no returning address. They fall into a routine and it almost feel like a living.

It happens on the anniversary of her parents’ death, when her emotions are trying to suffocate her and even the dulling fog of alcohol and blood can’t help her. She briefly thinks of pulling the ring off her finger and stepping into the sun, not really wanting to die, rather just yearning to feel anything else than the all consuming grief. She’s dead, she knows it, and though it was only a hallucination back then, she still feels she let down her parents by becoming what she is now. She wants to feel alive, even just for a moment, and that’s when Klaus finds her.

“So is this our new routine now?” Klaus asks in a suspiciously cheery voice after Elena kisses him.

Elena can still feel the lingering ghost of the kiss, the softness of his mouth and the taste of him, and strangely, Klaus didn’t push her away, so she feels his heart beating against her chest. She knows that it’s some unholy magic that pumps the blood in their veins, but she can pretend for a moment that the strong rhythm of his heart is a proof of life, and she takes anything she can get. In that moment of perfect illusion she feels as if they have one heart, with each beat defeating death for one more second.

“You’re aware of that I’m not going to change, Elena.” Of course Klaus has to ruin the moment, but Elena notices the slight change in him. How he says her name differently, and how he doesn’t step away from her. “And I’m still going to use your blood to create a hybrid army.”

“Yes, I know.” She relaxes and leans her head against his chest, listening to his heart. She knows she should have to be afraid or try to think a way to get out of this situation, but the truth is she’s glad that someone doesn’t leave her and someone is alive and doesn’t die. “But,” she says in a low voice, but knows he still can hear her clearly, “one can dream.”

And she does: She dreams of a better world, where everyone can leave their troubled past behind, and can find happiness no matter how much they have suffered and how broken they are. She hopes for love stories for dead people, not just for the living, because even if your heart isn’t always beating you can still feel.

And when Klaus laughs softly, she thinks that maybe that’s why he keeps her beside him: To be his balance, to be someone who finds the good in him. Or at least one can always hope.