"the curse of the sun and moon...is fake."

—

Eden opened the door of her flat with a small frown, seeing her niece standing with an expectant look on her face.

"Elena," Eden stated, leaning against the doorway. "If you touch him, or if you have some plan or something...he'll kill your friends. And so will my friends. Understand?"

Something flickered in Elena's face, but she nodded, following Eden into the apartment.

"This is nice," Elena complimented. "I haven't actually been in here before. Jeremy talks about it, but..."

"You never come," Eden shrugged, walking to the kitchen and grabbing a cup of water, placing it on the counter for her niece. "You're always invited."

"Sorry," Elena mumbled, glancing around. "Is he here?"

"In the bedroom," Eden nodded, leaning against the counter. "Harry and Gin are in England, they've got a Mediwitch appointment for the baby. Good thing, Gin's got a rubbish temper and I think she'd hex you, despite my pleads."

Elena smiled nervously and there was a rush of wind and then Elijah was standing next to Eden. He pressed a gentle kiss to her head, then looked to Elena.

"You may ask any questions, many of which I am sure you have," his face was impassive, eyes darting around her face. "I can't guarantee that I'll answer them."

Elena nodded and Eden nodded to the table. "Sit, I'm sure this'll be a long conversation."

The trio sat at the dining table, Elena fidgeting in her seat across from the pair. Elijah placed a hand gently on the back of Eden's chair, his fingers barely touching her clothed shoulder. He leaned back and Eden did too, the stark contrast of comfortability between them and Elena was stifling.

"Where did you get the dagger?" Elijah asked first.

It was a question they'd both speculated the answer too, and Eden's only logical guess was John. Considering they'd never informed Eden of the plan, she had nothing to confirm.

"I'll tell you everything," Elena looked between the two. "But we have to work together, Elijah."

Eden rolled her eyes and Elijah's hand stopped it's movements on Eden's shoulder, fingers pressing slightly into her skin.

"I will not harm you and I want only the best for Eden," his eyes narrowed a fraction. "I do so tire of repeating myself."

"It's because you're so old," Eden countered with a small smirk, lightening the mood a bit. "Total boomer behavior."

He glanced to her, amusement dancing in his eyes, before he resumed his movements with his fingers, and she smiled at the warmth it brought her.

"I need your word," Elena stated.

Elijah's jaw tightened. "Your ability to make demands has long passed."

"No demands," Elena shook her head. "I'm offering you my help."

Eden rolled her eyes minutely. "'Lena, love, we don't need it. You need ours."

Elena shifted in her seat but didn't disagree.

"I assume the Martin witches are no longer with us," Elijah shifted a fraction, hand settling on the back of Eden's neck, gentle, but possessive.

She tried to ignore the warmth pooling from his touch, but a gentle squeeze ensured she knew that he knew how she felt about it.

"No," Elena shook her head.

Eden frowned. "Martin witches?" She asked in confusion. She couldn't recall meeting anyone by that name or that the two had a mutual ally.

"Ancestral witches I'd procured to assist me in locating Klaus and ensuring Elena's cooperation," Elijah explained. "Their daughter has been taken by Klaus; I've known them a long time."

Elena's face looked regretful, but Eden's frown only deepened. "When did you kill them, 'Lena?"

"The night at the bar, there was a fire that Jonas lit after Luka died trying to save Elijah."

Eden inhaled a breath and slowly let it go. "So you killed more people to keep my soulmate dead?"

Elena opened her mouth to speak but closed it after glancing at Elijah, nodding. "This has gotten so out of hand," she shook her head, "I'm sorry."

"Katerina?" Elijah asked after a brief pause. "She would have been released from my compulsion when I died."

Eden watched Elena's expression carefully, wondering about the vampire herself. She'd like to make good on her promise to keep Katherine safe, especially since Elijah knew she'd saved Eden.

They both knew she'd saved Eden but were equally curious to see what information Elena would offer.

"Klaus took her," Elena told them. "We think that she may be dead."

Eden looked down, guilt flooding her. Elijah's hand moved from her neck to her thigh, taking her hand in his. He squeezed it once, offering the comfort he knew she needed. While he may despise Katherine, the idea of Eden blaming herself for her disappearance was unnecessary.

"I doubt that," Elijah shook his head. "Not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did."

Eden's grip tightened on Elijah's hand. He squeezed back.

"I don't understand," Elena frowned. "You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for betraying him."

"I had my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay," he answered Elena's unspoken question. Eden picked up on the tenses of his sentence, glancing up at him. He didn't look at her, but squeezed her hand, letting her know that he didn't wish to see Katherine suffer again. Not after the other night.

"There was a time," Elijah continued. "I'd have done anything for Klaus..."

He explained the connection between him and Klaus, leaving out his other siblings, of course, and Eden almost laughed at the look on Elena's face.

"Yes," he nodded, an amused smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "Klaus is my brother."

"I...heard that," Elena stuttered. "I-I'm still processing."

"Yes, I'm a little behind on the times, but I believe the term you're searching for is 'omg.'"

Eden snorted at his words and glanced at him in amusement. "That was a good one," she complimented, "I give you a gold star."

"Oh, I do wonder how that measures up with the three brownie points and Harrison Ford," he responded in a teasing tone.

Eden moved their hands to her lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, but the pang of sadness didn't go unnoticed by him. While she loved Elijah, there was something about the simplicity of Damon's friendship with her that she missed. They used to have little games like that; points and scores based on random terms they'd come up with.

He squeezed her hand again, noticing her sadness, and she smiled up at him softly, letting him know she was okay.

"There's a whole family of Originals," Elena centered the conversation back, Elijah's words sinking in. "Did you know about this?" She asked Eden.

Eden rolled her eyes. "No, I love a guy without knowing anything about him," she said sarcastically. "I'm not a child, Elena, of course I know who Elijah is."

Hurt flickered in Elena's eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asked softly.

Eden's face softened. "It wasn't my place. Elijah's history is his. It didn't matter."

"That he's related to the man trying to kill me?" Elena exclaimed. "I think that's worth mentioning."

"Perhaps we shouldn't delve into what is and isn't worth mentioning," Elijah stated lightly. "Bygones be bygones, lest we forget ourselves in the past."

Elena and Eden stared at each other for a moment, before Elena looked to Elijah again, swallowing back her words and nodding. "You're right. I'm sorry. This is all so...surprising."

"I understand the disbelief," Elijah nodded before launching into the explanation of his family. "My father was a wealthy landowner in a village in Eastern Europe. Our mother bore seven children."

"So," Elena blinked, eyebrows tugging together. "Your parents were human?"

Eden snorted. "Did you think they were born vampires, 'Lena?"

"I guess I didn't...I didn't think about that."

"Our whole family was," Elijah confirmed. "Our origin as vampires is a very long story, Elena, and I'd prefer to tell Eden in private when she hears it for the first time. Just know...we're the oldest vampires in the world. We are the Original family and from us all, vampires were created."

He paused, and then added, "excluding the vampires Eden grew up with. The kind created by the Wizarding World, but that is an entirely different story."

"And I'd really need Hermione there to explain it terms you'd understand," Eden added. "You haven't met her yet, 'Lena, but I think you'd get on." She hesitated. "Maybe. I do think she'd like you more than Jeremy. We'll have to see."

Elena purged on as though Eden hadn't added a tangent. "Right, but Klaus is your brother. And you want him dead?"

Elijah's grip tightened on Eden's hand and she glanced at him, seeing the impassive stare. Outwardly, he was emotionless, but she could feel the confliction, sadness, and anger in his mind. He wanted Klaus to suffer, but death was...

He would do what he had to, that much they both knew.

"So, as you've seen," Elijah cleared his throat, not answering Elena's question. "Nothing can kill an Original. Not sun, not fire, not even a werewolf bite. Only the wood from one tree."

Eden's head snapped to Elijah's, eyes widening. "You're telling her?" She asked softly.

He squeezed her hand. "She has to understand," Elijah nodded. "And if she makes a move against me again, I will kill the Salvatore brothers before they can blink."

"That's my man," Eden mumbled, smirking to herself. He leaned towards her and pressed a kiss to her head, squeezing her hand in response.

"A tree my family made sure burned," Elijah informed Elena.

"That's where the white ash for the dagger comes from," Elena connected the dots. Eden clenched her jaw at the mention of the dagger; the tool that took her Elijah.

"Yes," Elijah nodded. "The witches won't allow anything truly immortal to walk the earth. Every creature needs to have a weakness in order to maintain balance."

Eden knew this better than most. While the ancestral witches were different than her kind, the balance remained. All things came with a price, a cost, a balance. As Voldemort corrupted himself and the world, he lost his own identity, and therefore, the war. The same could be said of his followers — and even Draco and Eden.

In taking lives, they'd lost pieces of themselves. And no magic, save the killing curse, was truly invulnerable.

Even then, there were exceptions.

Case and point: Harry.

Through love, he was able to beat the killing curse twice, and weaken Voldemort enough to destroy him.

Balance existed in all things, and nothing could truly exist without a weakness, even if it's hard to find it.

"So, the sun can't kill an Original," Elena ran a hand through her hair, sitting back a bit. "Why is Klaus so obsessed with breaking the sun and moon curse?"

Elijah's lips lifted into a smile. "Right," he recalled in amusement. "The curse of the sun and the moon. In my haste to know you, I'd forgotten to tell you, Eden. You'll love the ingenuity."

"Uh oh," Eden grinned at her boyfriend.

"It's all so...Biblical-sounding, don't you think?"

Elena frowned at the look on Elijah's face. "What's so funny?"

"It isn't real," Elijah explained. "Klaus drew the Aztec sketches, we etched on Roman scrolls, African tribal etchings, and any other culture or continent we felt like planting it in."

"I don't understand," Elena looked at Elijah in confusion. "Klaus drew the Aztek sketches about the curse?"

"You made it up," Eden blinked and then scoffed. "The entire thing...it's made up, isn't it? A bedtime story. Something for werewolves and vampires to pass on and fear and work towards, all while passing information through both sides unto you."

"Precisely," Elijah nodded. "My clever witch."

Eden blushed at the praise, eyes widening a fraction. Not in front of her niece, not in front of her niece, not in front of her...

"But why?" Elena asked, still not grasping the reason.

"Easiest way to discover the existence of a doppelganger or to get your hands on some long, lost moon stone is to have every single member of two warring species on the lookout."

Elena shook her head, the wheels slowly turning. "So...it's not Aztec at all."

Eden grimaced. "'Lena, love, it's not a real curse. They made it up."

"As she says," Elijah confirmed. "The curse of the sun and moon...is fake."

"Mic drop."

—

Eden was starving; making pancakes — despite it nearing three in the afternoon — and listening to Elijah and Elena converse at the dining table.

"Klaus and I created the sun and moon curse," he explained, "dating back over a thousand years."

"But if there's no curse...?" Elena trailed off.

"Do you guys want chocolate chips or blueberries or plain?" Eden asked, popping a handful of blueberries into her mouth. "I really can't decide."

Both people glanced up to her, one in confusion, the other in soft adoration.

"I'll make all three. Have leftovers for Harry and Gin." Eden concluded, digging around in her pantry for chocolate chips.

"The real curse is much worse," Elijah continued. "It's a curse placed on Klaus."

Eden paused for a second in her rummaging, thoughts drifting to the man who approached her and Harry in Alaric's body. Something about him...

She shook it off, finding the chocolate chips in the back. "Milk or dark...have I got white? Oh, I can make brownies too," she mumbled to herself.

"Ginny's making cake for George," Elijah reminded her, cutting himself off. "You needn't make brownies, darling."

Eden pointed at Elijah. "But one can never have enough dessert, my love, and I will be eating it all."

"Don't come to me when George picks your brownies and Ginny gets angry."

Eden paused. "Valid point. I will make pancakes."

"Good girl," Elijah shook his head with a fond smile.

Elena looked between the pair with an odd look on her face before she settled her eyes on Eden. "I'm sorry," she spoke to her aunt. "I...I didn't realize how happy he makes you."

Elijah's eyes flickered to Elena's face and Eden stopped grabbing the necessary dishes, looking at Elena, too.

"Don't do it again," she settled on. "And besides," she shrugged. "You didn't know what they were planning. Not like you daggered Elijah."

Elijah's eyes remained on Elena, who's face flooded with shame.

Eden's smile fell and she watched Elena worriedly. "What don't I know?"

Elena hesitated, biting her lip.

Eden raised an eyebrow. "Whatever you don't tell me, Elijah will, so best if you fess up."

"I daggered Elijah," Elena confessed. "After the dinner party when Ric did it, Elijah came to get me at the lake house and...I daggered him."

"You're missing a few details there, Elena," Elijah countered lightly.

Elena shifted. "Elijah came to find me and I told him he could swear not to hurt my family—"

"—Which I already told you he wouldn't because they're my family too—"

"—I didn't understand that, then, Eden, but I do now. I'm sorry."

"She threatened to kill herself, have Stefan turn her into a vampire. A complete martyr. And when I gave her my word, she daggered me."

Eden's face hardened at Elijah's words and she gripped the edge of the counter.

"The second time," she spoke faintly, recalling the pain at Elijah's daggering, the few hours without it, and then the misery that followed when he was daggered again. "You..."

"I'm sorry," Elena stood, walking to Eden. "I'm so sorry. I see that you guys are...he loves you. I didn't think that was possible, I didn't — I was just trying to keep everyone safe and I—"

"—You're a child, Elena," Eden ground out. "Stop trying to protect everyone without understanding full pictures. You only know about vampires from what the Salvatores tell you. They are disloyal and manipulative, and they will lie to you the first chance they get. You...do you not realize that in trusting them over me, you caused me horrible, excruciating pain? That in trusting your boyfriend and his brother over your own family, you shattered my mind to a point where, honestly, if Harry hadn't been here, I would've lost it? This is so much bigger than you, 'Lena, and I know you're the center of it and you want everyone safe, but please, for Merlin's sake, listen to the adults in the room. Listen to the people who truly want what's best for you and your family."

She paused, and then added. "Elijah will keep our family safe. Damon already proved he won't. How can you trust someone with their lives when he's already proved he doesn't care about them?"

Elena opened and closed her mouth, looking down. "I don't know what else to say," she said quietly, looking thoroughly chastised. "I'm so sorry."

Eden didn't say anything else, couldn't find it in herself to do anything more than accept the apology, and looked to Elijah, reassuring herself that he was still there. The soft look in his gaze, the small upturn of his lips...he was alive. He was fine. He was okay.

Eden resumed grabbing the bowl from under the sink, her movements a fraction less buoyant than before. Elena stood next to her aunt for a minute, before nodding, and walking over to the table, sinking into the chair.

Noticing that Eden needed a moment to collect herself, and separation from this conversation entirely, Elijah commandeered the conversation back to the original subject.

"Klaus has been trying to break his curse for the last thousand years and you were his only hope."

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi," Eden commented to herself, grabbing a spatula and turning on the stove. "You're my only hope."

"Well, what is this curse?" Elena asked, but then both Eden and Elena's phones started vibrating. Eden glanced at hers, putting it on speaker, as Elena cautiously held hers to her ear.

"Shoot, Jenny," Eden said as she cracked an egg. "I'm making pancakes, d'ya wanna come over and eat some?"

"Klaus just came after me," Jenna exclaimed. "I-I don't...can you come get me? Or-or can—I'm fucking scared right now, Eden. I mean, he was Ric, but he wasn't Ric, and Stefan was there and his eyes were so different and —"

"—Breathe, Jenny, I'm on my way." Wiping her hands on her pants, she glanced to Elijah, who nodded, holding up his palm for Elena to stop moving. "One second, okay?"

She muted the call and looked to her boyfriend and niece. "I'll bring her over here, she can sleep on the sofa until Harry can apparate her to campus later. Elena, stay here, Elijah will just recap me later."

"I should come too," Elena stood but Eden held her arm, pushing her back down gently.

"The safest place for you and Jenna is here with Elijah. Klaus can't come in here. The only vampire that can is Elijah. He'll keep you safe. I'll bring Jenna back, okay?"

Elena glanced to Elijah, unsure, and then back to Eden.

"See you soon, kid," she ruffled Elena's hair as Elijah stood.

He pressed a kiss to Eden's cheek, quietly telling her to be safe, and she turned, grabbing Elijah's keys.

"I'm taking your car," she waved the keys up in her hand and he nodded.

If only Eden knew that would be the last time she'd trust Elijah.

—

hehehehehe y'all thought you were getting smut???? hheheheehe decided not mwuwhahaha. also ik this chapter was kiiiiind of boring i'm soz, but the next one will have a bit more action and we FINALLY GET SOME KLAUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSS AHHHHHHHHHH y'all are so excited ik and so am i.