#meet lilah and elijah

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cutiessss <3

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CONSEQUENCES | CHAPTER ELEVEN | LEGACIES/THE ORIGINALS

BOOK THREE IN THE SIDE CHARACTER/LILAH SERIES

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"And what authority do you think you have to demand that I show up to your little gathering? I think I already spoke my piece with you earlier,"  Rebekah Mikaelson said with her normal amount of sass and ferocity, walking down the staircase of the compound slowly, her arms crossed. Marcel was in tow.

"You're gonna want to hear what I have to say, Bex," replied Lilah, glancing at Lorelle as she spoke. "There's something I've... we've... been keeping from you."

"We?" Freya questioned, seeing Lilah looking at Lorelle. "You and Lorelle have been keeping something from us?"

Lorelle grimaced, giving her daughter pleading eyes as if to ask her to be quiet. It felt surreal, like Lilah wasn't in her own body as she stood there, heart pounding as she tried to think of the right words to tell her family she's been keeping secrets to them for a thousand years.

"Ah yes, what's the next act of betrayal you are going to reveal to us, dear Lilah?" questioned Rebekah.

"I think we should hear her out without the commentary, yes sister?" Kol asked, leaning forward to look at his sister, but then back to Lilah, nodding at her.

"I've been trying to figure out these visions I keep having, these flashes of deja vu, this feeling we've all forgotten something important to us," Lilah started. She took a deep breath, looking at all of them. "These past few years, you've been nothing short of family."

"Oh, stop the melodramatics and just get on with it," Rebekah groaned, sitting down next to her sister.

"I'm Elijah's daughter," Lilah said.

She looked as the expressions on the Mikaelson siblings and Davina widened with surprise. Rebekah got up first, grabbing Lilah by her neck and pinning her to the wall.

"Rebekah!" Marcel shouted, everyone standing up.

"What sick game are you trying to play?" Rebekah asked her, putting pressure against her neck. "My brother is dead, Lilah! Don't play games with us."

Lilah shoved her aunt back, speeding them to the other wall.

"It's not a game, Rebekah," Lilah  yelled back.

A moment later both girls were clenching their heads in pain, letting go of one another as they fell to the floor. Davina and Freya stepped forwards, a hand extended as they made the two Mikaelson girls wince in agony.

"That's enough from the both of you," Freya said once she and Davina put their hands down.

Kol looked to Lorelle, "Well, Lorie, I do believe you and my dear niece here have some explaining to do," he said, showing off his best Kol Mikaelson charming smile.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Lilah stood pressed against the wall in the study, Rebekah against the other as Freya flipped through the pages of a grimoire. Kol, Marcel, and Davina were with her, watching her as she looked determined to find something. Lorelle was sitting a little while away, still not speaking or confirming the claim her daughter had made.

"Here, this," she said, pulling out a yellowed piece of paper. "I found this in here around the same time Lilah became apart of our lives."

She handed it to Kol, who dramatically cleared his throat, holding the paper out in front of him as he read the note, "I sure do hope Elijah will forgive me. The child will to be named what he and Lorelle once talked about, though he may never meet her, and her mortal life will be spent thanks to this deal I had made years ago. She will have Freya, so all will be fine. Lilah Mikaelson, gifted with the name her parents had drafted before she had even existed. Lilah Mikaelson, with an L name to have a piece of Lorelle, and the rest of her name sounding like a piece of Elijah, will have parts of them where she goes. May Freya take care of the child and watch over the little witch as she grows. - Esther."

All eyes went to Lorelle and Lilah.

"Sister, why haven't you said anything about this?" Kol asked Freya, waving the paper in his hand.

"When I found it, I just thought it was a coincidence," Freya said, sitting down on the table, shaking her head as tears looked like they began to form in her eyes. "I mean... I never met another child, let alone my own niece, in all my time with Dahlia."

The siblings looked to Lilah, eyes searching for an explanation to the bomb that she had exploded.

She tentatively stepped closer to Freya, her arms extended up towards her head. "May I?"

Freya nodded, and she placed her hands on her Aunt's head, closing her eyes shut as she tried to make her see the past.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Lilah had to have been about ten when Dahlia let her roam around for the first time, let her even speak to Freya if she pleased. She just had to make sure she would not reveal her identity as Elijah's firstborn, or face the wrath of Dahlia.

For the day, she spent her time by Freya's side, asking her to help her pick apples. Freya watched the little girl, telling her to be careful when she climbed the tree. She braided her hair and fixed up the scrape she had gotten when she did, indeed, fall out of the tree.

Before she returned to the place Dahlia kept her, she grabbed Freya's face in her hands and told her, "You're the mummy I never got to have, even for a day."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

When Lilah opened her eyes again and stepped back, Freya looked like the wind was knocked out of her. Tears fell from both of her eyes, and she didn't even attempt to wipe them.

"You were that little girl?" Freya asked. "W-what didn't you tell me back then?"

"Dahlia threatened me of I did," she shrugged. "She was scared what two Mikaelson witches could do in rebellion of her, so she kept us separate. She knew you would've fought her harder for freedom, for my sake."

Freya was sobbing as she pulled Lilah into her arms, grieving for the childhood she knew that Lialh was subject to. A childhood she herself had. A childhood she hated.

"I would've," she nodded, blinking back tears. "I would've fought so much harder for freedom if I had known you were my brother's daughter."

"I know," Lilah said, wiping a tear that fell from her own eyes. "I know."

"Wait," Rebekah said, ruining the heartfelt moment. She pushed against the wall, walking towards the middle of the room. Practically yelling, she asked, "You've been apart from Dahlia for over a thousand years, you have been with this family for almost seventeen, and you didn't say a damn thing?"

"I didn't know how to," Lilah said softly.

"Bullshit, Lilah, you had a thousand years to think of something to say!" Rebekah exploded, slamming her hands on the table. "All you had to do is say, 'Hi, I'm Lilah Mikaelson.' Do what you just did right now. Do what Freya did when she found us. It's not that damn difficult!"

"I was desiccated for five hundred years after Dahlia used the spell Esther used on you to turn me, but got rid of the white oak loophole so I could just be miserable for all eternity!" Lilah yelled back, which earned more shocked looks from the vampires in the rooms. "Rebekah, you hated the thought of being daggered for one hundred forty years, and Kol, two hundred ninety five is a horrible amount of time to be daggered, but desiccated for five hundred. We all know from Finn that the longer one is daggered or desiccated, the more mentally isolated they feel. So yeah, Rebekah, it was that damn difficult. I woke up in a world that was not my own, had to learn how to be a vampire by myself, and the first things I hear are whispers in the wind about how big and bad my family was. It was that difficult. You spent so long trying to get away from Klaus, Elijah almost killed him once, he always had you guys daggered, do you think that was the family I wanted to be apart of? After being held captive my entire childhood?"

Rebekah pressed her lips to a thin line, knowing Lilah was right.

Rebekah spun around, pointing a finger at Lorelle, not having an answer for Lilah. Softly, she said, "Why did you keep my brother's child from us? Why did you just abandon us back then?"

"It was your mother's wishes," Lorelle said, one of the first things she had said since Lilah unraveled the thousand year secret.

"And what about the baby's father's wishes?" Rebekah asked, trying to calm herself down. She turned back to Lilah, "Elijah treated you like this own without even knowing who you were, and you repay him by letting him die?"

"Do you think it was easy watching my dad die?"

"Rebekah, tha's not fair..." Marcel tried to intervene.

"Fair? Not fair?" Rebekah asked. "Elijah told you he was going to die with Klaus, and you didn't do a damn thing. You let him die not knowing he had a daughter!"

"Rebekah..." Marcel said, grabbing her and bringing her close in an attempt to calm her down.

"Perhaps if you weren't such a liar like your mother my big brother would still be alive," Rebekah spat out in almost a whisper, as if the words hurt her to say, too.

"Okay, we're leaving, c'mon," Marcel said, pulling her towards the staircase. She shook her head, but Marcel kept tugging until she came with.

Davina walked over to Lilah, wrapping her arms around one of her best friends who now let her sobs go. Freya shut the grimoire she had on the table, and Kol rubbed his face with both of his hands.

"We're not the Mikaelsons without crazy family drama, eh?" Kol tried to joke, walking over to his wife and his niece. "C'mere darling, it's all right. Auntie Bex is just a bit emotional, okay? You're lucky you got your mum's temper instead of your dad's." Kol rubbed her back, still making jokes.

"Oh please," Freya added to the jokes, "She has a Mikaelson's temper, too."

"Lorelle's good looks though," Kol said, poking his niece's noise. "You got lucky."

She laughed, wiping her face as she stepped back from Kol and Davina.

"You two aren't mad that I kept this from you?" Lilah asked.

"I'm disappointed," Kol said. "In the fact that we lost so much time with you. I feel like we would've had fun together growing up, or even just together as Originals."

"As someone who also once ran from this family after seeing the cruelty that came with the territory, I don't really blame you," Freya said, moving her hair out of her face.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Lilah tipped her head back, consuming yet another shot as she stood on the balcony of the compound, looking out at the bustling city she came to love so much.

"Hi, darling," Lorelle said, coming outside and putting a blanket on Lilah's shoulders. "You've had a long night of storming in here and storming back out, then coming right back in."

"It's been a long twenty four hours," Lilah nodded. "I'm sorry I outed you like that."

"It's okay," Lorelle shook her head, brushing her hands through her daughter's hair. "Are you ready to finally talk to me? For real?"

Lilah looked at her, a small smile on her face. "Yeah, I think I am."

Lorelle smiled, the two girls of the Julson family walking to Lorelle's room in the compound. They sat on the floor, Lorelle telling her daughter stories.

"I just remember the nine months where I was pregnant with you, hoping that some day you'll be able to know a parent's love, even if it wasn't my own," Lorelle explained. "I got to hold you once before Dahlia came to collect, and I knew you were the most beautiful thing in the world."

"I got to know both," Lilah said, nodding as she spoke. "I got to know what it was like to have Elijah love me, to have you love me. I think I've had a pretty fulfilling life so far... I just can't help but feeling like something is missing."

"What's the next steps in your plans to know the girl in the photos? The one you've all seemed to have forgotten?"

Lilah was silent for a while, before she shrugged and shook her head. "I honestly have no idea."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

CHAPTER TWELVE

TAGS!

@akshi8278

· and the truth is out and the note hope found in side character is brought back up! it's just an amount of time before hope finally breaks out of malivore

[bookboleynreads]

Even hitmen have a softer side...and dancers a harder one Dante and Lucy are one of my favorite couple's in these stories! Lucy is feisty, strong-willed, foul-mouthed, persistant, graceful, and full of heart. Dante is a seeming cold blooded killer, but we discover his twisted soft side in this book. We also meet his twin siblings; Lilah & Elijah. Snake-Eyes leads to all kinds of drama in this book. Originally released as The Hitman's Dancer under the Tabatha Kiss name, I love the expansion of the book and the rebranding of the series. I received a review copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

[oletacho]

Soft Heart, Thick Skin

Soft Heart, Thick Skin

There I was standing on the playground, underneath the monkey bars, 10 years old, two long braids hanging down my back.  This image is burned into my brain as one of the very first times my feelings were truly hurt.

I was standing there with two other girls waiting to find out which one of us would be chosen to be the girlfriend of the new boy in school.  Needless to say, I wasn’t chosen that day. I walked away feeling hurt and embarrassed. Twenty-eight years later I could look back at that little girl and tell her it doesn’t matter in the long run, I could tell her that same boy would be her first kiss and once again break her heart 5 years later. I could tell her she would meet the man of her dreams in just a few short years and none of this would matter for her future. I could tell her all those things, but it wouldn’t ease her pain.  

This was the moment that something shifted in me, it was the beginning of learning how to deal with an offended heart.  

Once I felt myself become offended and hurt it would have been easy to avoid any other situations that could potentially hurt my feelings.  I could have chosen to avoid friendships or relationships where I might experience pain. I however believe that life is meant to be lived with people!  People were so very important to God that he chose to send Jesus to die for all of them.

If we want to live a life where we are not offended easily by the very people God has placed in our lives to make us better and stronger, we have two choices.  Harden our heart or thicken our skin.

Psalms 55:12-14

It is not an enemy who taunts me— I could bear that.

It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me—  I could have hidden from them. 13 Instead, it is you—my equal, my companion and close friend.

14 What good fellowship we once enjoyed as we walked together to the house of God.

David knew the pain of betrayal.  He knew the heartbreak of losing a friend.  Offenses can often be unexpected, so we have to be prepared to handle them, David gives us a good example.  

Instead of keeping his heart hard toward people he found his hope and healing in God.  Offenses will come (Luke 17:1), but when they do come we have to choose how we are going to respond.

Unoffendable

Here are a few ways we can choose to live unoffended

Forgive easily

When we forgive easily we keep our hearts free from offense and release others from the trap of offense.  We can give grace, even when we are right and they are wrong, even we have not received an apology. It doesn’t hurt me to extend grace to another.

Communicate your feelings

When we communicate our feelings we can begin to hear what the other person is going through, we can have meaningful conversations and relationships can be strengthened through the conflict.

Let Jesus be the center

When we let Jesus be the center we realize it isn’t really about us anyway.  Paul tells us in Galatians 2:20, “it is not I who live but Christ who lives in me” We are dead to our own way of thinking and doing, we are now made alive in Christ.  So our offenses pale in comparison to the mission of the gospel.

When we see our offense with a view of eternity, we begin to realize how little it really matters.  Offense keeps us from doing what God has called us to do and that is exact trap of the enemy. If Satan can get us to focus on what is around us rather than who is above us, He wins.  

Bruised hearts heal, hard hearts break.  God is concerned about our hurt and our pain, let us choose to take the pain to him and let him heal us rather than holding onto it and letting it stop us from moving forward.

During the month of April I will be the featured Voice with Women of Faith Ambassadors,  I would love to encourage every woman present to keep a soft heart even when it’s hard! We will focus on some of the areas I’ve touched on in this blog, as well as others as we take a look at our own hearts.  It is so important to self assess so God can reveal truth and move us forward.

Click here to become a Women of Faith Ambassador today and engage with other women who are just like you!

    Carrie Erikson is the co-pastor of  Mercy City Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, alongside her husband Matt. They planted Mercy City in 2015 and have seen radical growth in the church, launching a second location at the beginning of 2018. Before moving to Lincoln, she lived in Macon, GA, and Rockford, IL, Carrie and Matt served as campus pastors and youth pastors for nearly 14 years. Matt and Carrie have been married since 2001 and have four children, Cooper (15), Elijah and Emery (13), and Lilah Jane (8).

Carrie is a graduate of Liberty University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Counseling.  She is a Voice with Women of Faith and regularly teaches Women of Faith Ambassadors.  She has been blogging since 2012 and is currently working on her first book.

Carrie’s heart is to see people find hope in Christ, no matter what their circumstance or situation. It is her greatest hope that people can find freedom in God’s faithfulness. She has traveled all over the US and internationally in 7 other countries bringing a message of hope. It is truly her heart’s desire to see every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

Learn more about Carrie at CarrieErikson.com

Soft Heart, Thick Skin published first on http://womenoffaith.com

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CONSEQUENCES | CHAPTER ONE | LEGACIES/THE ORGINALS

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It seemed almost as if most of the world seemed to just mold around the absence of Hope Mikaelson, filling in the void she left. No one asked questions about the random occurrences that had no real explanation to how they happened. Landon Kirby and Rafael Waithe's life at the Salvatore school continued, almost as if no one wondered how they got to the school in the first place, how Landon woke up at the Malivore hideout... as if no one wondered who even discovered Malivore in the first place.

Everyone's lives just continued.

The Mikaelsons had photos with some girl they didn't know, but just chose to ignore them as if it made sense. It was life as usual, photos with some random girl not mattering anymore.

For Lilah, she "woke up" with tears on her face—but she had never gone to bed. She was sitting in the car on the side of the road, unsure where she was. In fact, she tried to piece together the last decade. What had she been doing all this time? She saw a road sign that said she was a few miles out from Mystic Falls.

She furrowed her eyebrows. Mystic Falls? That was where Stefan's life without her was. She winced as she felt pressure on her head, letting her forehead fall onto the steering wheel as she tried to breathe, memories flooding her brain.

She remembered moving to New Orleans when her father and his siblings made it back there, wanting to take back their old lives once it was made clear the Mystic Falls gang, Stefan's friends and family, didn't want them there. She remembered watching from afar as turf wars had broken out between the supernatural factions.

She remembered somehow getting tangled up in Mikaelson drama despite trying to stay away from them. She made friends with Josh Rosza, one of Marcel Gerard's vampires, and with Davina Claire, one strong teenage witch. She soon became integrated in the supernatural politics of the town, fighting alongside the Mikaelsons while they had no clue who she was. She was just Lilah Desmarais.

Her close bond with Elijah was equally comparable—by his siblings—to the one Klaus and Marcel shared. When the Hollow had hit New Orleans, looking for something to possess, it found its way into all of the Mikaelson siblings.

Being unable to stay away from his brother, Elijah chose to lose his memories and lived in France. Lilah tried her best to help Freya, who she would always see as her first mother figure, try to find a way to reunite their family without the Hollow taking over.

In the end of it all, Klaus took on the Hollow himself and chose to die to make sure his siblings could remain safe and together, Elijah going with him.

Lilah regretted everyday that she was unable to tell him the truth about herself, but when he died, she felt there was no need to tell anyone else.

As she turned the key to start her car and wiped her face, she nodded slowly, as if accepting the memories now in her brain. She clenched her jaw and shut her eyes once more, attempting to figure out why she was near Mystic Falls. It had been two years since the death of Elijah, but she had no idea why she was there.

Her phone was in her lap. She picked it up, seeing a call from an unknown number for a second, but then her phone got hot. She dropped it, and when she picked it back up, it was gone. Her phone started to go off, ringing. She jumped back in her seat, startled, until she saw that it was Josh's name.

"Josh?" she asked, whispering because she was still confused.

"Where the hell are you?" he asked on the other side. "I woke up and thought we were cleaning the apartment, but you're just... not here."

She looked around at the empty road, heaving out a heavy sigh. "I'm near Mystic Falls."

"Mystic Falls?" he exclaimed, before sighing. "Lilah, how many times have we discussed not trying to get in contact with Stefan's family? He passed away, you never got to see him again, blah blah blah, it's better we don't interrupt their happy lives?"

She nodded slowly, those memories also coming back to her.

"I don't know why I'm here," she said honestly. "But... I'm on my way home right now."

"What do you mean you have no idea why you're there?"

"I just... like... woke up?"

"We can have Davina check that out when you get here," Josh decided.

"Y-Yeah," breathed out Lilah, starting to pull back onto the road, starting her drive back home.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

When she had gotten back to her apartment, the one she shared with Josh, she was still in a puzzled state of mind. It was like her memories were unlocking the more she got closer to New Orleans, like a door was opening to the life she lived. Things were fuzzy and then clear, while other things felt like they were just slipping from her. A girl's laugh and smile was stuck in her head for a while, until she up and forgot about it entirely.

She opened the door to the apartment, seeing Josh and Davina sitting on the couch. They both looked worried as she kicked off her shoes. In a picture frame by the door was photos from Davina's wedding to Kol, where she was the maid of honor, standing right next to Davina while Josh filled in as Kol's best man. She started to remember that night as well.

Josh and Davina stood up, quickly walking to her.

"You look like shit," Josh said, earning a glare from Davina. "What? Look at her! She looks like she fought someone."

She furrowed her eyebrows and ran to the bathroom, surprising herself when she knew where it was. She looked in the mirror, seeing her untamed hair wild, dried blood on her in places where there was no cuts.

"What happened?" Davina asked from behind her, her and Josh following her.

"I have no idea," replied Lilah, shaking her head. "I-I feel like... like..."

"Woah, woah woah," she heard Josh's voice slipping, getting slower and deeper as she felt like she was levitating, falling maybe, and she saw the ceiling of the bathroom before her eyes closed completely.

—

"...maybe she turned off her humanity?" a familiar, raspy voice said, muffled by the walls of the apartment.

Lilah regained consciousness, seeing she was in her bedroom. She looked around, memories of moving in, decorating, living there coming back to her. She got out of bed as she heard Freya's voice from the living room. Her aunt, the girl who she felt like was the only mother she had, now and back when she was with Dahlia. But she'd never know.

"For just a night? And turned it back on? Is it really that simple?" Davina asked.

"Uncommon, luv, but not impossible," another voice, an accented male one. Kol.

She rounded the corner into the living room, gaining the attention of everyone.

"Hey," Josh smiled at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Disoriented," she replied, sitting down next to Freya.

The Mikaelson woman put an arm around Lilah, and she remembered meeting Freya for the first time, trying not to cry the first time she ever hugged her. She tried so hard for so long to live a life that was parallel to the Mikaelsons, but she just couldn't keep living that way.

She sat still while Davina and Freya ran some magical tests on her, trying to see if they could dig out what happened, but they couldn't. Instead, Kol said it would make sense if she had just gone on a ripper binge for the night, which would have explained the blood on her when they found her, perhaps turning off her humanity and then switching it back on in the morning.

That frightened her. That she had no recollection of what she had done, how many people she had killed, what kind of mess she left. She was able to remember her old Ripper days, and it left her an eerie feeling. But she just listened to everyone around her, deciding that would be best.

Josh placed his hands on her shoulders as he stood behind her, massaging her to try to get her less tense as everyone piled out of their apartment. Josh had decided that cleaning could wait, and that Lilah looked like she was in need of a drink, so they all went to Rousseau's, where Lilah helped manage.

She didn't even notice the photos on the wall, pictures of Freya and some unknown girl. It wasn't common for her to look at those photos, so she walked straight passed them and sat at a table with Kol, Davina, and Freya as Josh went behind the counter to grab them some drinks. As she spent more and more time awake, the disoriented state she was in rubbed off, and she felt normal again, like she was fully in this life. Eventually, somehow, everyone at that table seemed to all forget that Lilah was even in Mystic Falls or missing in the morning.

Her new life in New Orleans was just starting, but to her, it felt like that had been where she was the whole time.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

CHAPTER TWO

Welcome to Book 3 of the Lilah Mikaelson/Side Character series! I've been trying to figure out what I wanted Lilah's life to look like after Hope jumped into the pit, how I wanted to have the memory loss affect her. As we all know, everyone seemed to just... keep living their previous lives, just without Hope. Even though it would make sense that they'd ask questions as to how so much happened: i.e: landon and raf's arrival, why hayley was with the mikaelsons for so long, why elijah and klaus died, etc. everyone only had their memories of hope repressed, but none of the other memories of their lives with her erased.

i tried the route where lilah also had her memories repressed like everyone else, but after trying to figure out how to incorporate lilah into legacies' actual storyline, i decided to go about it my own way. lilah is a whole different species of vampire, things that affect everyone else doesn't affect her.

so, why not have her entire past few years just erased? but not just erased, she gets filler memories... and everyone else gets filler/fake memories of her. where there's a Hope-shaped gap in the Mikaelson family's lives is almost filled with a whole new life for lilah. and those that knew her at the salvatore school... she just... also disappears with the memories of her cousin. even roman doesn't remember her—which is going to end with roman not being a student at the school, btw!

instead, the mikaelsons all "remember" life with lilah where hope never existed. i wanted to touch a lot on fate here. how lilah still ended up mixed in with the mikaelsons without hope, relationships she makes in the future without hope.

and i thought it'd be interesting to see how lilah would've lived her life in a world without Hope. in Side Character, we learn she only gets close to the Mikaelsons because of Hope. she would have never gotten close to them—since she hadn't been for centuries—if it weren't for Hope. so how exactly would her life in new orleans have been? and i just sat on that idea until i came up with this chapter, what life would have been as a consequence to hope never existing.

[despressolattes]

CONSEQUENCES | CHAPTER FIVE | LEGACIES/THE ORIGINALS

BOOK THREE IN THE SIDE CHARACTER/LILAH SERIES

book one masterlist » book two masterlist

this book’s masterlist

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IMPORTANT: read the author’s note at the end. there’s some questions i was asked on wattpad, and i ask them. one of them pertains to hayley!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Do you really think she could be a heretic?" Josh asked her after she closed and locked their front door.

She sighed, putting her purse down on the shelf they had by their door.

"Perhaps," Lilah said. "It'd make sense how she got all over the world, Mystic Falls, Norway. How would she even know how to track down any trace of the Mikaelsons without magical help? In a world she doesn't know, in a world where she doesn't have contacts?"

"And with what Rebekah said about Lorelle saying it was the 'stupid ring' that brought her all over the world," Josh added, obviously on the same wave length as Lilah.

"Sounds like locator spells to me. And a Bennett witch? It has to be that Bonnie that the Mikaelsons talked about, the powerful witch from Mystic Falls that was friends with the doppelganger and Caroline Forbes. The descendent of a Salem witch, then something about the founding families of Mystic Falls... Gilbert, Donovan, Bennett, Forbes, Fell, Maxwell, Lockwood, Salvatore..." she trailed off, wandering into their kitchen to clean the dishes in the sink.

Josh followed her, a confused face. "You seem to know a lot about that mysterious town you don't remember even driving to," he commented.

He opened their dishwasher and held a hand out to her. As she rinsed off the plates for things that would be hard for the dishwasher to clean itself, he took it and placed it into their dishwasher.

"I've been alive for years, Joshy," Lilah reminded him, turning off the water. She handed him the remaining dishes and then wiped her hands on their hand towel. "You learn a lot of trivia when you've been around long enough."

"So, any applicants come in while I was gone?" Josh asked, changing the subject as she sat up on their counter top.

She shook her head, and he pointed at their coffee machine. Despite it being late, she nodded. Caffeine didn't keep her up anymore anyways.

"Add some of that," she said, pointing at the bottle of Jack Daniels in their alcohol cupboard. "And some peppermint."

"Yes ma'am," chuckled Josh at her request. "Works at a bar all day, then drinks from her personal stash all night."

"Life is more fun when you're drunk," she joked. "Mystery blond came around, though. Found out his name, Roman."

Josh peered over his shoulder at her, his hands still spooning coffee into their coffee machine.

"Hm," he grunted. "Maybe I'm not wrong, and his timing with all this Lorelle drama might be more than just a coincidence."

"Nah," Lilah shook her head, kicking her legs back and forth. "He's a good guy, I can just feel it."

"Like you felt that Elijah was a good guy?" Josh asked.

"That's not fair," Lilah said softly. "Elijah was a good guy. Nobel and true to his word. He did some bad things, but when you live that long, Joshy, you're gonna do some bad things."

Josh just nodded, knowing that the topic of Elijah was always iffy with his roommate. When the Mikaelsons were still all together, Lilah had gotten the closest to Elijah and Freya, their bond closely resembling Marcel and Klaus's. It was just little did Freya know was that she knew Lilah when she was a child.

The two sat in a comfortable silence, and Josh handed her a cup with her requested alcoholic beverage.

"He seems to be here on vacation," Lilah said about Roman, smiling to herself that she finally had a name to the face, sipping her drink.

"Wasn't he here on a mission like a day ago? And now he's here on vacation at the same time Elijah Mikaelson's first love comes back from the dead? I dunno, not buying it. This guy has to be some sort of bad news. I mean... he hid his name for so long. How do we even know it's Roman? Did you watch a last name?" Josh asked, and Lilah just shook her head slowly. "See?"

"He works for Caroline Forbes, and I trust her," Lilah stated.

"You've never even met her."

"No, but she does have impeccable taste in men," Lilah said with a smile, watching Josh just playfully roll his eyes at her.

"What does that mean?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Joshy?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Vincent was watching Nik the next morning, which left Lilah and Josh free and available when Davina asked them to come with her somewhere. The young witch was vague with her request, just asking her friends if they could be ready in about an hour.

"This woman will be the death of me!" Josh stated as he entered his bathroom for a quick shower.

Lilah only chuckled, leaning close to the bathroom mirror as she wiped mascara onto her lashes. She was attempting to mentally prepare herself for meeting Lorelle, what she would look like, what she would be like. From Elijah's journals, she was a beautiful girl with brunette hair, long and wavy. She was alike Elijah and Lilah in a way that she chronicled her life in journals, constantly reading or writing in them.

A million thoughts coursed through her head about Lorelle. What she sounded like, and knowing how creepy it was, what she felt and smelt like. For hundreds of years of her life, she didn't want to know a single thing about the Mikaelsons, about Elijah, the family she believed had abandoned her to be slave to Dahlia. Then for more hundreds of years, she spent it looking at her family from afar, curiosity of what the Mikaelsons were like outweighing her initial scorn of them.

Never did she crave to know Lorelle. She was always a name on a paper, locked away. She was long dead, and Lilah knew all too well that you couldn't miss what you never had. The way she would compel people to forget her before she booked it, Stefan Salvatore, countless short-lived friends. It was easier living when no one knew she was once alive.

But now that Lorelle was real, something tangible that she could reach out and touch, Lilah felt oozy, like she might faint or throw up. Would anyone be able to see a resemblance between the two of them? She remembered the subtle comments from people on the street in passing, telling Elijah that his daughter was beautiful.

"Lilah Rae, it appears to me that people think we're actually related," Elijah would laugh after kindly smiling at the commenters.

"Yeah, funny," Lilah would respond as they continued on their walks through New Orleans.

Her phone beeped and she looked down, Davina informing their groupchat that she was outside. She glanced at herself in the mirror another time. Davina had only mentioned going out, so there was a chance that they wouldn't go to the Mikaelson compound at all. There was still a chance Lilah wouldn't have to encounter her thousand and some old mother.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"You were a witch before you were a vampire, right?" Davina asked Lilah, looking at her through the rearview mirror of her car. Josh was sitting in the passenger seat.

Lilah nodded.

"Do you know anything about The White Oak coven?"

"That's a peculiar name to name one's coven," Josh said with a cringe.

"I haven't heard of them," Lilah said, shaking her head. "Are they the cover that you were tracking down?"

Davina nodded, and put her eyes back on the road. Lilah watched as they drove past trees, obviously no longer in the busy city life that New Orleans had, but more of a scenic, nature-side of it.

"Why would they name their coven over the one thing that could bring the demise of a Mikaelson if they workshipped the Mikaelsons?" Josh questioned.

"I wish I knew," Davina replied. "I thought I was so close to tracking them down, but then the trail went cold about a year ago. And Lorelle says she woke up about a year ago."

Davina pulled into a street parking, putting the car in park and turning it off. She unbuckled herself and said, "C'mon."

"Where are we?" Lilah asked, unbuckling herself and getting out of the car. She looked at their surroundings.

They were standing in front of an old white, colony-style house.

"This is where the Mikaelsons stayed when they first came back to New Orleans, back when Marcel was living at the compound," Davina explained to her as they walked up the long grassy path to the front door. "Some of Elijah's journals might be here Rebekah said. We could look through them, see if we can find anything that could lead us to this coven."

As they got towards the front porch, she stopped in an area that looked perfect for a bonfire. Something felt familiar about that spot, as if she had seen it in a photo somewhere, or as if the entire house had been described in detail to her before. She was getting major feelings of deja vu.

She followed Davina and Josh into the house, passed the staircase, into a study. They all rummaged around, having gone through others' possessions for clues enough times to be experts. Lilah crouched down, opening a chest to see a few brown, leather-bound books with yellowed pages.

"Here," she said softly, earning the attention of her best friends.

She grabbed one of the books and plopped down onto the wooden table top, opening the delicate pages. Davina and Josh grabbed a few, skimming the books.

"I hardly believe that if Elijah knew about a coven that worshipped his family that it would be in a book rather than shared with his siblings," Lilah said after a few hours of reading, everything leading to nowhere. She was, however, learning more about Elijah's past, which was something that she enjoyed.

Davina and Josh sighed, a silent agreement with Lilah as they placed the journals back inside. Davina looked around the bookshelves, pulling a few of Esther's grimoires off of the shelf.

"We'll take these back, maybe Freya and I can go through them, see if Esther knew any resurrection spells."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

When Davina started to drive through the familiar streets that led to the Mikaelson compound, Lilah was practically having a silent meltdown in the backseat. This was it, she was going to see Lorelle Julson in the flesh.

Lilah followed behind her friends slowly, trying to prolong the inevitable as much as she could. When they entered the compound, the Mikaelson siblings were gathered in the common area, sitting down. Their heads turned at the sound of the three entering, Kol visibly lighting up at the sight of his wife.

There, sitting next to Rebekah was a brunette. Unlike the descriptions of her in Elijah's journals, she wasn't in her signature blue viking-esque gown, but her hair was wavy and long, the front pieces twirled tightly and clipped to the back of her head.

The wind felt knocked out of Lilah's stomach at the sight of her, and she stared back at the brunette with a curiosity.

"Lorelle, meet the lovely Lilah," Kol said with a smile, sitting on the arm of the couch.

Her feet felt heavy but she managed to walk closer. Lorelle stood up, the two of them practically the same height, and even Lilah could see the parts of her that she had in herself.

"You look familiar," Lorelle stated.

"We have a lot of photos with her sitting around the house," Freya commented, nodding.

Freya had always felt like an outsider with her siblings, having not grown up with them, and she felt the same isolation as her siblings rejoiced with the woman. She couldn't help but send fake smiles as every recollection of the old days together. Days Freya never got to have with her family.

"You know, I love the name Lilah," Lorelle stated, sitting back down. "I always wanted to name my daughter Lilah."

"And did you have kids?" Lilah questioned her, wondering if she would tell the truth in the presence of Elijah's siblings.

Pain flashed across the woman's face, and her lips pressed tightly together. Slowly, she shook her head no, "I didn't get the chance."

"Where did you go, Lorie?" questioned Kol. squinting with curiosity. "One minute you were in love with Elijah and the next moment—"

"Kol," scolded Rebekah. "She obviously died, you can't just go assuming that she abandoned us."

"But how could she just die and none of us know?" Kol asked, talking as if Lorelle wasn't there. "Tatia was her best friend, she would've known."

"What did become of Tatia?" asked Lorelle.

Everyone looked at one another, not knowing how to respond. Kol and Rebekah had their run with Tatia's doppelgangers Elena and Katherine, unknowing that Lilah herself had been Katherine's best friend once upon a time, when she was still Katerina.

"Klaus and Elijah fell in love with her," Kol said, having absolutely no filter.

"Babe," Davina said.

"Yes, luv?" Kol asked, looking at his wife endearingly.

"Come with me to look through these grimoires, okay?" she said flatly, grabbing his hand and tugging him off of the couch.

"Was it something I said?"

Everyone shook off Kol's questions, the attention back to Lorelle. Lilah took a seat where Kol had left, trying to wrap her had around the fact that the woman who birthed her was in front of her. She was beautiful, everything she thought she would be.

"So, Lorelle, how has adapting to the modern age been?" Josh asked her awkwardly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"It's was an interesting few months," Lorelle replied.

"I bet," nodded Freya, who had been asleep for so long, each time she woke up, the world a little different. "A huge culture shock for sure."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Davina offered to drive Lilah home, but she opted for a stroll in the night air instead. She took Josh home, the three friends parting ways outside of the compound. Lilah looked up at the sky, wondering if the saying that the dead watch over you was true. She wondered if Elijah knew the truth, somehow, somewhere. She wondered how he felt about her being his real daughter, not just someone he treated as one and looked like him.

She wondered if he had found peace.

She felt tears forming in her eyes at the thought of Elijah. Every year that she had gotten closer to the Mikaelsons was another year she told herself she would tell them the truth. She never knew that the Hollow would win against an Original, that she would lose an uncle and her father all with one fell swoop without being able to tell him the truth.

As if a memory was being unlocked, she remembered the day Elijah told her his plan to leave with Niklaus. It was right after he had finally come home from France, his forgotten memories finally brought back as Niklaus's plan to take the Hollow in himself became a thing.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

She had been at the compound visiting Davina, on her way out. Elijah came through the entrance way, asking her if they would sit down for a moment.

"Lilah Rae, I must warn you, what I'm about to say might upset you," he started off.

"What is it?"

"As you know, my brother Niklaus has taken the Hollow out of all of my siblings and I," he started, his voice shaky. "And I... I don't know what it's like to live a life without Niklaus. I've been by his side for a thousand years. And I also don't know how to live with myself after what has happened to Hayley at the hands of Greta Sienna, Antoinette's mother."

Lilah looked down in sorrow, still grieving the death of Hayley.

"But I think a thousand years is enough time for one individual, don't you think?" he asked her.

"Cut the poetic bullcrap, Elijah, and tell me what you're trying to say," Lilah said softly, but she knew what he was trying to say.

"I plan to go with him," Elijah stated. "And I plan to tell the rest of my siblings soon, but I wanted to tell you individually. I know you are not my kin, but you are my own Marcellus. And I want to thank you for these past few years where aI got to experience what fatherhood could've been like, had I stayed a human."

She hastily wiped the tears that stubbornly escaped the brims of her eyes and sucked in a shaky breathe.

"You, my darling, are a special type of little girl, and it's been an honor to have lived alongside you these years," Elijah told her.

She wondered what it would've been like if she blurted out who she was in that moment, but she didn't have it in her to find out if he'd still die while knowing he was her father. So, she just didn't tell him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

She had made it to the pier, standing with her elbows against the railing as she looked between the water and the moon, her elbows cold against the icy rails.

"Hey."

The voice startled her, and she glared at the blonde who had magically appeared next to her.

"Okay, are you stalking me?" she asked him.

"Maybe I'm just drawn to you," he replied, mimicking her actions against the railing.

"What's your deal, Roman?" she asked, Josh's suspicions of him slowly making her suspicious. "You seemingly appear everywhere I am, and your timing for being in town is impeccable."

"Like I said, I'm on vacation and I like your city," he replied, shrugging.

"What's your last name?" she asked.

He paused for a moment, and then responded, "Bauer."

She relaxed when she couldn't recall anyone else with the same surname.

"Well, Roman Bauer, why are you so drawn to me?" she questioned.

"Let's see," Roman started. "You're a pretty girl, in my three very short interactions with you, you manage to make you think about your smile when you're not around, and you understand the struggles about being a supernatural in a world where different is hated and hunted."

She blushed when he complimented her appearance and her smile.

"And from the look on your face, you think about me, too."

"Perhaps," she said, inching closer to him as she faced him.

Something about looking at his face in the moonlight also brought upon a feeling of deja vu, as if she had done this before. But all of her short interactions with him had been in the day time, so that didn't make sense.

He inched closer to her as well, his face close to hers.

"Perhaps?" he asked her, his breathe close enough to touch her cold face.

"Maybe we should go back to my apartment," she said softly. "Just be quiet or my roommate might just drive a stake through us both for irritating him."

He chuckled when she laced her hands with his, but let the girl lead the way.

Lilah hadn't really experienced infatuation since she had to leave Stefan Salvatore. It was somewhat easier that way, not getting too involved with an individual when she wasn't able to be her true self with them.

But she had a giddy smile on her face as she tugged the blond with her, being with him coming natural and feeling comfortable. Even if he had no clue who she really was. Roman, however, was also not able to be his own true self with her. He knew he couldn't tell her his real last name, or that he had known what she looked like for the past two years.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

send in an ask to be apart of the taglist!

CHAPTER SIX

A/N: the people wanted more josh, therefore, i gave more josh :) and some more davina because i love her. i love writing this version of lilah, where she's not in a total state of downward spiral, but is instead, mysterious but not out of her mind.

and oh man, roman lied about his last name.

i decided if i got questions in my comment sections on wattpad that i'd just answer them on the story itself so that people can read them even if they don't read all the comments. keep reading if you wanna know the timeline in correspondence to legacies & what happened with hayley!

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

alohiha asked: in relation to legaices, what episode are we on? i kinda want to know how long it is until josie's jealous ass breezes through new orleans.

answer: we're basically in the first episode of season 2. it's the beginning of summer vacation at the salvatore school since this story picks up right after hope jumps into the pit. hope is in malivore for basically the entire summer trapped with clarke since episode one starts with the beginning of summer, and there's like a montage of josie and landon getting closer through out summer, and then finally hope gets out. then episode 2 starts a whole new school year.

so we're basically going to be stuck in episode one for a few chapters since there's three months of content i can write until hope comes back, and then there's some time between hope coming back and josie breaking the spell. so we got lots of time. :)

—·—

alohiha asked: wait does lilah remember hayley?? bc they were so close so their relationship would have been just like with the mikaelsons, and mysteriously formed.

answer: so in chapter one, lilah has this rush of "memories" come to her when she's sitting in her car, pulled over on the side of the road outside of mystic falls after hope had jumped into malivore. she says that things are fuzzy but she starts to "remember" things, but it's all faux memories that are meant to fill the hole of hope, what new orleans would've been like in hope mikaelson never existed. so with this fake memories is her life in new orleans, which is meant to represent what he life would have looked liked without hope.

so while she's trying not to get tangled up in the mikaelson's family drama, she makes friends with josh and davina, and became integrated in the supernatural politics of the town alongside the mikaelsons, but as lilah desmarais. she, like in side character, is closest with elijah.

hayley was with them in this world, which i don't think i've mentioned. in this fake world lilah remembers, hayley still goes to new orleans looking for the crescent pack, falls in love with elijah, and is very much apart of the mikaelson crew trying to protect the city and the supernatural there. so yes, lilah remembers hayley, but only remembers her fake memories of her.

—·—

@Healer9999 asked: did lilah have a kid then, before she was turned?

(this is in reference to the julson witch bloodline mentioned in ch 4)

answer: lilah doesn't have kids. the point of rebekah saying that the julson witch bloodline ended with lorelle since lorelle "never had kids and is an only child" is supposed to just be something that chips at Lilah's heart since she is the last of the julson witch bloodline. and the mention of certain families being stronger witches based on their family is also something that ties back to lilah's witch days with dahlia, because she was a powerful witch up until she got turned at the age of 16.

—·—

emmerz1016 asked: where did you get her name from?? and can you please do hayley and elijah's wedding.

answer: story time! i actually was originally going to name lilah after myself, which is maliyah. then, i thought of naming her liyah, which then changed to lilah. it wasn't until people were trying to guess who liyah was to elijah and lorelle that i realized that lilah is a combination of both of their names, so it's book canon that her name came from a combo of her parents' names, but in reality i was just feeling a bit conceited and wanted to name her after me.

and about the hayley and elijah wedding... i might. if aftermath reaches anywhere near the same amount of reads as side character (136k and going strong) i might do another 100k celebration where i write another alternate ending since the one from side character was an au where elijah does propose and hayley asks lilah to be a co-maid of honor.

but as for seeing their wedding, that really just depends on how far aftermath goes and if it's as successful as side character has been—which i hope it does.

[despressolattes]

CONSEQUENCES | CHAPTER FOUR | LEGACIES/THE ORIGINALS

BOOK THREE IN THE SIDE CHARACTER/LILAH SERIES

book one masterlist » book two masterlist

this book’s masterlist

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"I'm sorry, who's Lorelle Julson?" Josh asked, drying one of the glasses behind the counter.

"Elijah's very first love," Rebekah said, in her normal dramatic tone that seemed to beautifully romanticize everything she said, her chin tilted up towards Josh while she talked. She looked back down at her drink, "Someone who disappeared on our family before we turned into vampires."

Lilah sat next to her, trying to collect herself.

"H-how is this... how is th-that even... how is that possible?" Lilah asked, starting her sentence over three times before getting it right. "How is she alive?"

Rebekah sighed, her eyes widening for a second as she huffed—the way she usually did. "Beats me," she said, bringing her drink to her lips. After a long sip, she placed it onto the counter, "But Kol and Davina are extending their stay for a bit to help Freya and I figure it out."

Without really thinking, Lilah asked, "If they find out how, does this mean we can bring back Elijah? And Klaus?"

"Who knows?" Rebekah said once again. "You guys ready to close up shop and come to the compound with me to meet her?"

The two that was in charge of the bar looked around, seeing the guests sitting down, talking and drinking.

"You two can go," Lilah said, trying to keep her composure at the revelation of her mother being alive. "I'll hold down the fort until closing and meet with you guys later."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Lilah walked to the door, locking it after she flipped the sign to say "CLOSED."

"Darn."

With a smirk on her face, able to recognize the voice, she turned around to see the mysterious blond standing behind her with a smile on his face.

"Should I be worried about what this mission you're on entails?" Lilah questioned with a smile, crossing her arms around her chest. "You seem to be everywhere I turn instead of looking for the troubled youth of New Orleans to take back to your little school.

"No," he laughed, shaking his head and taking a step closer to her. "It's summer vacation now, so Caroline said I don't have to look for anymore troubled youths for now."

"So, why are you still in New Orleans then?" she asked, starting to inch towards her car.

"Maybe I like your city," he shrugged as she unlocked her car. "I'm Roman, by the way."

"And he has a name," she said, impressed while nodded. "Roman. Fits you a lot better than Mystery Blond."

"Is that what you call me when you talk about me to your friends?"

She raised her eyebrows with a smirk at his comment, shaking her head.

"You remind me of someone with how slightly full of yourself you are," she said, his antics easily comparable to that of Damon and even Stefan Salvatore, and someone else, but she couldn't quite pinpoint where else he was familiar from.

"Is that a compliment?" he asked.

"You wish. I'd love to stay in chat, but I have a family emergency I have to get to," she told him, even if, to the rest of the world, it wasn't even her family that was having an emergency. "I'll see you around, I guess. Roman," she smiled, getting into her car.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Rebekah would be a vampire for a few more decades, until Damon and Elena were ready to go. It was Niklaus's parting gift to his baby sister. She wanted to start a family sometime and die a natural death of old age, but she wasn't quite ready for it yet, so it worked that she had to wait a bit for it. Not when her and Marcel were just gaining back their lost time together, enjoying the wonders of the world.

So when Lorelle Julson, now a vampire, showed up at their hotel doorstep in Norway, saying her stupid ring had brought her all over the world, Rebekah honestly couldn't believe her eyes. Lorelle went places that had any trace of Mikaelson, to Mystic Falls even, but the Bennett witch she had questioned only told her what she knew about the Mikaelsons: that Elijah and Klaus were dead.

So she headed back to Mystic Falls for a bit, too, to the only place that seemed familiar to her, even though her home village was no longer a village. Then, she went to Norway. It was then she caught glimpse of a familiar voice and a familiar head of hair, and she followed her to her hotel room.

Rebekah had asked her a series of questions that only Lorelle Julson would know, being skeptical of the girl at first. She and Marcel decided to take the next flight back home with her, needing Freya and Davina's help to figure out what happened.

When Lilah had gotten to the compound, Lorelle was tucked away in one of the many bedrooms, fast asleep from their travels and from unpacking a heavy story to everyone else. From what Josh had told Lilah, her reunion with Kol and Rebekah was heavy and heartfelt, but Lorelle hadn't told anyone why she had fled from the Mikaelsons pre-vampirism in the first place.

"There's this spell that Davina found that could have been used to resurrect Lorelle," Freya informed them, all of them in the common area of the compound, standing or sitting. It was nighttime, but everyone was too shaken up to go to bed.

"My darling here spent a lot of time actually following the coven that we believe might've casted this spell before we even heard that Lorie was back," Kol said, calling Lorelle by the nickname she had been given by their family long ago. He wrapped an arm around Davina, and said, "But it's not just any resurrection spell."

Davina nodded, sighing as she sat up straight, ready to explain. "This spell had to be stronger. And I had been doing some digging for the past year maybe? I caught wind about this coven that worshipped the Mikaelsons in secret. I tracked them down, maybe to see if they could help with what Freya and Lilah had been doing..."

While Lilah couldn't practice magic, she was an active hand in Freya's research and attempts to find a way to bring back an Original once they were dead. They had absolutely nowhere to start, but grimoires and upon grimoires needed to be read and studied, they had to dissect any and every resurrection spell they could find. But in the two years since Elijah and Klaus's deaths, they had gotten nowhere.

Davina continued, " A resurrection spell of this strength, in order to bring someone of Lorelle's age back... it would require a lot of souls, a lot of sacrifices, a lot of powerful magic... but the coven is totally gone. Any traces of them are gone... I think they sacrificed themselves... their bodies and their magic... so that Lorelle could walk again."

"But why do that?" asked Lilah. "If they worshipped the Mikaelsons, shouldn't they have resurrected Elijah or Klaus? Not one of Elijah's past loves."

"That's one of the things I don't get," Davina said. "But it's not like there's any way to find out. Lorelle didn't even know about this coven, obviously. She died before it was ever created. Lorelle herself came from a lineage of witches, but never really tapped into her witch side until she was brought back, so what did this coven want with a witch that was practically human?"

"Maybe it's her bloodline," Josh suggested, everyone looking at him when he commented. He shrugged when he realized everyone was waiting for him to respond. "I mean—like... aren't there certain witches that are just stronger based on their lineage? Like that Bonnie girl in Mystic Falls that you guys talked about."

"Ah, Bonnie," Rebekah smiled. "Mystic Falls would've burned to the ground without her."

Josh continued, "Bonnie hadn't been practicing magic her whole life like most witches, but she was still one of the most powerful witches based on who her family was."

"I've never heard of any Julson witches," Davina shook her head.

"Because the bloodline would've ended with Lorelle," Rebekah stated. "She never had kids, and she was an only child. She would've been the only Julson remaining."

"But she's a vampire now, so if this coven was hoping it was her magical power that would somehow be of use, they're wrong," Kol added.

"Unless she's a like the Heretic coven," suggested Lilah. "If she became a vampire, how was she able to track people down the way she did, in an unknown world, without magic?"

Everyone in the room looked between one another. With the amount of supernatural beings that the family had seen, the ones that they had heard stories of from Mystic Falls, it hadn't occurred to any of them that perhaps the woman could've been a vampire-witch hybrid, like the Heretic coven. A coven that had originated within the Gemini coven and soon fell under the leadership of Stefan and Damon Salvatore's mother.

Silence befell the group of supernaturals, everyone knowing that the peace in New Orleans was about to be shaken to its core.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

chapter five

discussion board!! :)

· why do we think roman wouldn't tell lilah his name?

· even now, she only knows his first name... why is that?

· so i took parts of aftermath chapter twelve and incorporated it into this chapter, the parts where davina talks about the coven and the revelation of freya and lilah spending the past few years trying to find a way to bring back elijah and klaus. one thing i wanted to touch on in this book is how fate has a funny way of bringing people together. lilah's original life happened based on her interactions with hope, and she used to think that it was solely hope that brought her into being so close with her family. when, in reality, in a hope-less world, lilah still meets the mikaelsons, still meets josh, and is practically living the same life... just without the salvatore school, somewhere she never goes without hope. pieces and parts of lilah's life remains the same with or without her cousin, because there's things the universe had planned for her.

i think my favorite part of totally erasing Lilah's previous life from anything that has to do with hope gives her a bit of a fresh start? in aftermath, with the loss of her father and what the necromancer said to her, she was just constantly on a downward spiral, but here, she's sad over elijah's death, but she isn't mentally unstable? so... what happens once josie casts that spell that brings everyone's memories back... but lilah already has a new life?

[despressolattes]

CONSEQUENCES | CHAPTER SEVEN | LEGACIES/THE ORIGINALS

BOOK THREE IN THE SIDE CHARACTER/LILAH SERIES

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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

In a week, Lilah practically jumped at any chance to be the one who was looking over Rousseau's. It felt weird for her to be in the same room as Lorelle. It was different than the way it was with Elijah. Elijah didn't know about her, but Lorelle was fully aware she had a daughter before she died. The mother-daughter duo being around the Mikaelsons, both holding in a secret that deep, seemed to be like a ticking time bomb.

She was, however, hanging out with Roman Bauer. It felt almost casual, the way neither of them talked about any of that much substance, but it seemed fun that way. There was always a mysterious and flirtatious air when neither of them knew the specifics about one another's past. Like all that really mattered was what they were doing in that moment.

The Mikaelson girls wanted to meet him. Rebekah and Davina claimed it was unfair that Josh got to know what he looked like, yet they didn't. Freya just wanted to know all about "the boy who sweats diamonds." Though, every time Lilah asked him if he wanted to have dinner with them, he said he had something else he had to do.

She assumed it was because it was intimidating being invited to dinner with the Mikaelsons, so she never pushed. They weren't really dating either, so it shouldn't have been that big of a thing for him to come home, meet the family and friends. They were just enjoying one another's company.

Totally casual. And honestly, casual and not mixed in with the Mikaelsons was a good thing. There had been an occasion or two when Lilah had a date—but she never developed feelings for anything in a few hundred years, or so she thought—that would end up ending in a dark manner. Which was normal when the Mikaelsons were involved.

Lilah walked into Rousseau's, the keys to the restaurant dangled in her hands. As she shut the door and turned around, her already-dead heart nearly had a heart attack. Sitting down at the bar was the brunette whom Lilah got some of her physical features from.

"Your breakfast seems to still be on your lips," Lilah said, her eyes scanning over her face to see blood dripping from the side of her lips onto her jaw.

Lorelle reached up with a napkin on the bar top, attempting to wipe her face.

"How'd you even get in here?" Lilah asked her, going behind the bar counter to switch on the lights.

"Through the back door," she said, and Lilah frowned.

She knew that meant that Lorelle must've broken something to get in. Sometimes, she wished vampires needed permission to also enter restaurants, but she knew it just wasn't reasonable.

"Wonderful," sighed Lilah.

She had her back to Lorelle, starting to get the things in the bar ready for opening.

"You're her, aren't you?" Lorelle questioned, her voice seeming to echo in the empty restaurant.

"I'm who?" Lilah asked, swirling around and playing dumb. She placed her arms on the counter, leaning over on her elbows.

"My daughter," Lorelle stated, looking at Lilah in the eyes.

Her facial expression faltered, and Lorelle had her answer.

"Why didn't you tell the Mikaelsons that you had a daughter?" Lilah questioned, still refusing to answer her question.

"Why haven't you told them that you are that daughter?" Lorelle asked back, raising an eyebrow as she spoke.

While looking at the brunette in front of her, Lilah saw the parts of her own personality that she had in comment with Lorelle. She took after her mother in a lot of ways, not just their physical appearance. Looking at her, she knew that she had been the perfect combination of Elijah and Lorelle. She had Elijah's facial structure and Lorelle's hair and height. She had the Mikaelson fire and temper, but what seemed to be Lorelle's sarcastic personality and bluntness.

She was reminded of the conversation she once had with her father about her reminding him of what he liked about being human. Perhaps, combined with being like his own daughter, her resemblance to Lorelle also had something to do with his statement. Though part of it was his bond with Lilah herself, the Mikaelson girl had a feeling a portion of that statement had to do with Lorelle.

"How'd you know?" Lilah asked her.

"Esther and I discussed your name before I had given birth to you," she said. "And the necklace you're wearing. I had that exact necklace made when I found out I was pregnant, wanting my baby to have something of me when she was taken away."

Her right hand went up to touch her daylight amulet, which she wore as a necklace. It was given to her when she was little, back when it was just a necklace. Something Dahlia let her have as a child, then enchanted so that Lilah could walk in the sun without harm—even if sunlight wouldn't kill her.

"I had that exact necklace made when I found out I was pregnant, wanting my baby to have something of me when she was taken away," Lorelle explained, but she got no answer from her daughter.

Lilah remained standoffish, trying her hardest not to show any emotions towards the woman. Despite her being her mom, Lorelle was practically a stranger in her mind. Just like she had been with Elijah when she first met him, she had her guard up. Even though she was the closest to Elijah, he was also the one she took the most time getting to know.

Her phone went off, the chiming almost scaring her. She took her phone out of her pocket to see Josh's name. She slid to decline, but before she could put her phone back into her pocket, Josh called again. She slid to answer it, placing the phone to her face.

"Hey, Josh, what's up?" Lilah asked, trying to calm herself down and not seem irritated over the phone.

"I'm on my way to Rousseau's, you might want to head to the Mikaelson compound and fast."

"What, why?"

"They had Roman hostage. Won't tell me why."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

On Lilah's way to the Mikaelson compound, slightly irritated. The Mikaelson siblings had done something similar to that before. Lilah was never the type to be in any type of serious relationship, but there had been a time a few years prior that she had been involved with a vampire, and they ended up dubbing him unworthy of him and tossing him away into the dungeon. Most of it was Klaus's idea, the same way he had always decided no guy was good enough for Rebekah.

She stormed inside, looking around at the Mikaelsons as they looked like they were in deep thought, discussing something. Roman was nowhere in sight. Something in her head was telling her to save him. She didn't even wait for anyone to say anything to her before she started to make her way to Marcel's old vampire prison.

"Lilah," Rebekah called when she noticed him, the siblings and Davina following the girl as she walked down the stairs.

"Where is he?" Lilah asked, looking around for Roman.

"Lilah," Rebekah said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards her.

Lilah shoved her off, the blonde hitting a wall.

"You guys do this all the time, don't you?" Lilah questioned, shaking her head. "Unbelievable. I thought with Klaus gone, maybe I could actually be involved with someone and let you know."

She turned back around, but Rebekah sped in front of her.

"How about you stop and just listen to what I have to say?" Rebekah shouted. "We didn't even know he was your Roman until Josh saw him!"

"I don't want to hear it, Bex!" she shouted back.

"He's a Sienna, luv," Kol said bluntly from behind.

Lilah made an 180 degree turn, standing so she could look at both Rebekah and the others. She quirked up an eyebrow at him at the last name. "A Sienna? As in Antoinette Sienna? As in Greta Sienna, the girl who killed Hayley?" She watched everyone nod. "No," she shook her head. "He told me his name was Roman Bauer."

"Honey," Freya said, holding a hand out and stepping forward. "I know what he told you, but he lied. He's Greta's adoptive brother."

"And we have reason to believe he might've helped Greta," added Davina softly.

"Reason to believe? I saw him in town that same week that Greta and Emmett were riling up all the vampires!"

Lilah turned away from the others and looked at Rebekah. Despite the information she was being given and wanting to be angry with him, her conscience was telling her that she had to make sure she left with him, safely. In a chillingly calm voice, she said slowly, "Where is he?"

Rebekah sighed and started walking, leading to where Roman was, locked behind a door. She opened it, holding it open as Lilah rushed inside.

"Roman!" she yelled, running to his side.

He was unconscious on the floor, his face against the dirty floor. She grabbed him, placing his head in her lap as she sat on the floor. She ran a hand through his hair comfortingly as the boy groaned at her touch. She saw marks along his arms. It looked like they had poured vervain on him. The marks would take time to heal.

She looked at his hands, seeing that he had no daylight ring.

"Where's his ring?" she said, looking up and at the door to the Originals and Davina. When she got no answer, she repeated, "Where? Is? His? Ring?"

"You might want to calm down," Rebekah said, rolling her eyes at her friend's attitude. "You're getting your panties in a twist for a boy you rarely even know! We're practically your family, Lilah."

"This torturing people thing you Mikaelsons do has to stop," Lilah stated. "It has never gotten any of you anything good."

She stood up, bringing the unconscious Roman with her, supporting his weight as she draped one of his arms over her shoulders. When she took a few steps towards the door, Rebekah blocked it.

Lilah got in her face, staring down the blond.

"I suggest one of you hands me his ring and lets me pass. I'm not leaving here without him."

"Just give it to her, Bex," Kol sighed, walking away from the door and leaning against the wall parallel. "She's not gonna let up."

Rebekah let out an angry puff but she dug in her pocket, placing a ring into Lilah's hand. Once she got the ring back onto Roman's hand, she sped out of the compound with him.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

CHAPTER EIGHT

please send in asks and talk about what parts of the story you like! here’s some questions we can discuss :)

DISCUSSION BOARD!

· the reference to roman being the boy who sweats diamonds :') one of the cutest freya-hope scenes for the show but freya-lilah scenes for the book is when freya would tease lilah about roman being the boy who sweats diamonds, even though it was something hope said

· well shit is starting to pick up! opinions on lorelle?

· oh no, roman's been found out

· why do we think Lilah was willing to anger the Mikaelsons to take Roman out of there? Especially when they were just "casual" friends.

so this has nothing to do with the story but i'm writing an original book (like a book that is mine, not an originals fanfiction) and i'm trying to give a nod to my first favorite OC, which is (you guessed it) Lilah! i'm unsure whether to give her a new last name or to call her lilah desmarais, but there ~is~ a character named roman archibald who only calls her by her last name... soooo should i give her a new last name or dedicate her completely to this lilah?

also enjoy this PSA i wrote on my tumblr blog (follow me at hopesoriginal) since half of this fandom seems to hate roman with a fiery passion for no fucking reason

f you hate roman sienna for "his part" in hayley's death (even though greta lied to him, and he was told hayley and hope wouldn't die) then KEEP THAT SAME FUCKING ENERGY towards:

KAI PARKER for being responsible for in jo's death, for being responsible for luke's death DAMON SALVATORE for being responsible in lexi and tyler's death, for leaving enzo at augustine during the fire, for his part in vicky's death STEFAN SALVATORE for being a FUCKING ripper, for being responsible for enzo's death, for his part in vicky's death KLAUS MIKAELSON for being responsible in elena's death (even though she survived), roman's adoptive father's death (even though he was an asshole), MULTIPLE PEOPLES' DEATHS C'MON PEOPLE, carol lockwood, mason lockwood ELIJAH MIKAELSON for being responsible for one of davina's death, thierry's death, tatia's death FREYA MIKAELSON for being responsible for one of davina's death KOL MIKAELSON for his part in helping esther and finn katherine pierce/katerina petrova for being responsible for turning caroline into a vampire and sparking the reason why the originals came to mystic falls wanting to kill elena, in one of jeremy's deaths DAVINA CLAIRE for being responsible for bringing mikael to new orleans MARCEL GERARD for being responsible for jane-anne's death HOPE MIKAELSON for her part in accidentally killing bill

y'all notice how LONG most of these lists are? yet all of these people are fandom faves, despite the fact that many of them killed other fandom faves. damon somehow deserved happiness with his brother's girlfriend after having killed his brother's best friend. elijah and freya killed their little brother's wife. but roman brings hayley and hope somewhere because his mother asked him to, promising him no one would get hurt... and he's the fucking asshole who doesn't deserve redemption? make it make fucking sense.

[despressolattes]

AFTERMATH | CHAPTER TWENTY | LEGACIES

book masterlist » book one masterlist

< previous chapter

A glowing urn? Probably not the best sign from a mysterious and unknown Malivore object. The only thing left was to wait for the next monster to show up looking for it.

It was officially day one without Roman Sienna.

"Are you sure that's even safe for the kids there?"

"We're supernatural, Joshy," I laughed at the concerned vampire, but I spoke in whispers as I walked through the halls of the school. It was two in the morning, and I was heading to Alaric's to talk about the urn with him and Hope. "We all managed to keep Hope safe when she was a kid, remember?"

Josh called to ask how I was doing after the whole Roman leaving thing, which happened the day before. It was sweet of him to think I would need him company, but I wasn't sure if I should be offended that he thought I'd be crying at 2 a.m.

Okay, it's more likely that I would be than not, but still.

"Yeah, with a lot of casualties though," he reminded me.

"I think we'll be fine," I said, stopping in front of Alaric's office door. "Okay, I gotta go. I'll talk to you soon."

"Alright, love you, Lilah," he said.

Hope was standing by his desk while Alaric went through some of the books on his shelf when I walked in.

"How long do you think it'll be until the next monster shows up?" Hope asked when I closed the door.

"It's hard to say. I've never actually seen an artifact glow before," Alaric replied, turning around. He looked at me, "Thanks for deciding to meet us."

I rolled my eyes at the headmaster, but playfully.

"Where did you hide the urn, by the way?" he asked Hope.

"Yeah, where is it?" I chimed in. She hadn't even told me where it was.

"I'm not sure I should tell you," Hope said.

We both looked at her like she had two heads, and said in unison, "Excuse me?"

"Isn't it safer if only one of us knows where it is?" she asked.

"Then that one of us should be the adult," Alaric scolded.

"Funny, because I thought it should be the one of us with high-level superpowers," Hope sassed.

"In both of those cases, it should be me then," I said, causing Alaric to look at me with a scolding look.

I knew that Hope and Alaric were still walking on eggshells with me, trying to see if I was really as stable as I seemed. In truth, I felt better that day. I woke up and felt like there was things that needed to get done, and that I should do it.

My heart was aching for the Roman shaped hole in my life at the moment, but that was about it. I tried not to think too much about Elijah, about Lorelle. I looked at the old journals they kept, the ones I read religiously, but I hadn't opened them for a while.

I hadn't opened my own in a while.

"What?" I asked. "I'm way older than you, Ric."

"What should we tell everyone else?" Hope asked. "We should probably warn them before a cyclops crashes exam week."

"I would kill for a cyclops to crash exam week. Or to crash into me so I don't have to deal with exam week," I joked, earning more scolding glares from Alaric, and one from Hope, too.

Yup, it was probably comments like that that made them walk around eggshells with me.

"Well," Alaric said, ignoring my comment and sitting down on the top of his desk. "It's usually best to start with some form of the truth."

"What about those times the truth is the one thing you can't say?" she asked, looking at both of us.

Of course, she was talking about Malivore, Seylah, and Landon. My mind, however, drifted to the twin merge, it drifted to my own years of lying.

Truth about those times where the truth is the one thing you can't say is that it's the only thing you should say, but you don't, in the name of "protecting" the people you hide it from. When, really, you're protecting yourself. You're protecting yourself from having it eat at you that you told them information that hurt, you're protecting yourself from watching people you love be in pain.

It's not altruistic, it's not for the greater good of the other person.

Withholding the truth is the easy way out, but no one's ready for that conversation yet.

"Are you sure you want to keep all of this from Landon? I mean, I understand you wanting to protect him, but-" Alaric started, saying a lot of which I was thinking.

"He's been wondering about his mother his whole life. He finally meets her, and then she dies? If I can  keep him from knowing what that feels like, then it's worth it," she asid.

It wasn't. But she wasn't ready for that conversation either, and of course Alaric would see where she was coming from. I saw where she was coming from, too.

But I was the only one in the room who hide secrets and watched them unravel.

My secret about being a Mikaelson was what, in the end, stripped me of time with my Dad while he knew he was my dad. It stripped me of a life I could've had if I had just told them my identity, but I was scared. I wanted to protect myself from the messy Mikaelson lifestyle, from their enemies, from their blinded rage and anger. But I found myself craving their unconditional love for one another.

And when I got it, it was too late.

—

We were sending kids to the Lockwood mansion if they wanted to evacuate while we were still unsure about when the next monster would attack. Matt opened the doors for us. Exam week, wherever students were, was going to happen as planned.

Since, after all, telling the accreditation board we were cancelling mandatory testing because of monsters wasn't something that would bode well for the integrity of the school.

"Have you guys seen Hope?" Landon asked.

I had noticed him during Alaric's entire speech glancing around the room, searching for something. I had assumed it would be my cousin.

"I haven't," I shook my head, which was the truth.

Rafael shook his head, too.

"You two gonna evacuate?" I asked, hoping to change the subject from my cousin.

"Are you?" Rafael asked as we started to make our way back to our rooms.

"I'm untouchable, wolfie," I laughed. "I'm the best security guard this school will ever get."

"Then, I guess I'm safe here," he said, sending me a smile.

I chuckled at this, and I linked my arms through both of the boys' arms. Rafael yawned, covering his mouth with his free hand.

"So, Hope's M.I.A," Landon said, still thinking about her.

I guess I suck at diversions.

"Yeah, she's probably suiting up in her battle armor," Rafael said. "Girl's basically Wonder Woman."

I laughed at this statement.

"I don't even know what you are, Ms. Untouchable. I got no superhero that amounts to you," he said.

"Stopppp, you're gonna feed my ego," I laughed.

"Either that, or she's realized she's made a mistake bringing me back here 'cause where I go, danger follows," Landon said, too gloomy to join in on our "nerd talk".

"My god," mumbled Rafael. "C'mon bro. Now, this one's not on you."

"Sweetheart," I said, stopping all three of us in our tracks to grab Landon's shoulders, despite him being much taller than I was. "Hope and I are Mikaelsons, where we go, danger follows."

"I still haven't gotten too far in magical history class... so I'll let you know what I think of that statement once I get to the chapter about your family."

"Isn't all the chapters about my family?" I asked.

"They're not evil yet," he said, then stuttered. "N-not that I think your family's evil or anything, but-"

"They can be," I answered for him, giggling at how flustered he was getting when he realized I got be offended by what he just said.

"Hope being distant today has got to have something to do with us waking up in a field with amnesia yesterday, right?"

"Landon, I used to get to distant with Roman that I'd end up in New Orleans. It wasn't on him that I was acting that way, it was just how I cope. We Mikaelsons have a lot to learn about healthy coping, because we do do things that we shouldn't, like get so overwhelmed with wanting to save the world that we shut out the very world we're trying to protect."

"Look, until one of you can remember how you guys got there yesterday, I just... I wouldn't think about it," Rafael advised him. "Look, you're here. Think about the good things in your life instead of gettinv caught up in the bad for once, bro."

"Yeah," Landon said, nodding slowly.

"I'm gonna go grab my bags and hit the library," Rafael told us.

"Okay," Landon and I nodded.

They did their little bro-handshake, and Rafael pulled me into a side hug afterwards.

"Help me study for history later?" he asked. "You did tell me that I can use you as a primary source for most of it."

"Just text me," I replied, laughing. "I can't believe you remember that in all the chaos."

"You said it to me on my first day, how could I forget?"

He looked at Landon, "I'll see you at breakfast in the morning?"

"Yeah, see you at breakfast," Landon said, though the way he said it, I felt like he was retreating into his own universe of overthinking already, despite the speeches Rafael and I had given him about trying to relax.

Rafael turned around, and said, "Hey, Lan. I'm glad you're back."

This made Landon smile, looking at his foster brother with appreciation as he wondered down the hall.

"I'm glad you're here, too," I told the curly haired boy. "You make my cousin happy, so I wouldn't worry too hard about this, okay?"

"How did Roman handle it?" he asked, and I looked at him all funny. "I mean, how did he handle you being distant?"

I sighed. "There's a lot that I did in my relationship with Roman that he handled so well, I can't even imagine why or how. I'm a lot to deal with, and I don't know, maybe it was fact that we both have been around long enough to have so many relationships that we know to just let things run its course, maybe it's just that he and I had this understanding, or maybe he didn't handle it well at all and just never told me. Communication is key, and I know that Hope's distant and my distant is different. You just gotta learn how to move around her, if you want to be with a girl like her."

He nodded.

"I hope any of that made sense."

"I think it did," he nodded some more.

"Okay. Good. I'm going to go. Welcome home, Landon."

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

[despressolattes]

AFTERMATH | CHAPTER NINETEEN | LEGACIES

book masterlist » book one masterlist

< PREVIOUS CHAPTER

———•———

Previously on Aftermath... They learned more about Landon's past, about his parents, about Seylah. They got the urn from her. Landon and Hope are finally official. The yen is hidden, no one remembers going to Malivore but Hope and Lilah. Lorelle left with Kol and Davina to give Lilah space. Matt Donovan is overjoyed that the Mikaelson's stay in Mystic Falls was brief, but he knows it won't be for long.  Not with the Mikaelson children at the Salvatore school.

Lilah's deteriorating mental health.

No one wants to talk about it with her, afraid of her breaking point. She seems exhausted most days, with bursts of productivity where she was in a good mood and happy. She stays in Roman's room for the most part, laying there instead of going to classes. Some days, she'd be in the kitchen baking things.

—

"It's stress baking," I had told Rafael when he saw down in the kitchen after curfew. I offered him cookies, and smiled softly when he said they were good.

"I just have a lot going on," I told him.

He frowned, but nodded and just ate more cookies. He leaned against the counter top I was working at, watching me in a comfortable silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "You and I are usually good at talking about our emotions together."

I chuckled, smiling at his kindness. Rafael was such a pure soul. I had been around long enough to be able to weed good guys from the bad. I don't think I've met any guy at the Salvatore School that was a bad guy, other than maybe my own boyfriend for a moment, but that was history.

"I guess i'm just trying to pretend that I didn't overhear my boyfriend talking to Dr. Saltzman about how he needs to be careful breaking news to me about leaving."

"Leaving?"

"That's all I heard. I didn't get much of the context from behind a door."

"You and your vampire hearing," Rafael snickered. "You should talk to him. Sienna loves you."

"Yeah, vamp hearing. Blessing and a curse."

I was on my way to class when I had heard them in Alaric's office.

"Be careful," Alaric had said. "When you discuss this with Lilah."

I had stopped walking to class when my vampire hearing picked up my name.

"I know," my boyfriend's voice replied.

"Also, don't be too afraid of leaving her," Alaric had warned. Leaving me? "Lilah may be fragile right now, and I love how much you love her. It's amazing, it's exactly what Hailey would call an epic love... but this is your life, too. You should be able to go if you want to."

Leaving me? Go somewhere? Was Roman planning on leaving me?

"I know," Roman said, and I could just picture his solemn face from his tone. "But this being my life doesn't change the fact that I'm apart of hers."

"A part of it, yes. Not the whole thing."

I thought about the conversation for the rest of the day. It was one of my better days, where I found a way to get out of Roman's bed to shower, eat something and pull myself to the classes I didn't even have to attend, but did to enjoy a childhood for once.

It was all work and material I technically lived whenever I got to history class, math I hated, and English that I understood without modern translation. I had met Shakespear before, after all.

"There you are," a soft voice spoke.

Roman walked into the kitchen, raising an eyebrow to see Rafael next to me. The wolf raised his eyebrows at him in curiosity, his mouth full of cookies.

"I'll leave you guys," Rafael mumbled, grabbing a few more cookies before making his way out, him and Roman nodding at each other as they passed.

"You never came to bed," Roman said.

"Yeah, wanted to bake," I said, turning away from him and going back to rolling balls of dough.

"Babe," he said softly, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. He placed his cheek onto the top of my head. "What's wrong?"

"What were you talking to Alaric with earlier?" I asked.

He knew from my time that I had most of the story, and I just needed him to fill in the gaps.

He sighed, and tugged on my hips, turning me around to face him. He kept his hands on my hips, staring down at me with his loving eyes.

"Dr. Saltzman asked me to go help with recruiting," he said, looking away from me as he continued with the sentence.

"Oh?" I said. "And you want to go, right?"

He let go of me, unable to look at me at all. It broke my heart, knowing he was so bothered by the thought of hurting me that the conversation was paining him, too.

"I told him I wanted to—of course I'd want to, yanno? I'll be traveling, can probably go see Antoinette for a bit. I love traveling, and I feel like I should do what I can to help Dr. Saltz after he forgave me for the things I've done. Find kids that need help like I did, like we did. But being here for the amazing woman who needs me is so much more important to me."

I sighed, walking to him since he walked away from me. I stood in front of him, placing my hands on his face. He leaned into my touch, grabbing onto my wrist lovingly.

"Oh baby... Roman, you should go. I'll be fine," I said, even if I was unsure if I would be.

The thought of not having him around scared me, but that was was codependency looked like, and I needed to get back to the independent girl I once was. The strong daughter Elijah remembered me as.

"I have the twins, Hope, Ric. New Orleans. I don't want to keep you from opportunities. I know you used to always want to help with recruiting... and Alaric's giving you that opportunity. Don't decline it on my behalf. Remember, I can't die, honey."

"Doesn't mean I want you to suffer with your problems all by yourself," he said.

"You're so cute," I said, pinching his cheeks. "But you should go."

"Would we stay together if I did?" he asked.

There it was, his real fear about leaving me. I was taken aback from the question, and I realized traveling and being gone for so long could be difficult for a relationship, even if we were stable. What if he met someone while he was out there?

"Maybe what we need is a break," I said, though I didn't want to. He frowned, tears forming his his eyes. "Just for now, baby. So, in case you meet someone else, we can break up in person instead of over text, miles away. I love you, and I will never doubt you loving me. If it's meant to be us, we'll come back to each other. We have eternity together."

A tear fell anyways, and I wiped it away.

"There's a lot of things going on in my life right now," I said, trying to formulate the right words because I knew I would only get to say it right once. "And I'm blessed to say that I got through a lot of these past few years alongside you. But right now, Rom? I think we both know that I have a lot of figuring things out to do. I'll be right here when you come home. I love you, Roman Sienna."

"And I love you, Lilah Rae Mikaelson," he said, kissing my forehad and pulling me for a hug. "My first epic love."

CHAPTER TWENTY