InsaneJournal

Who: Elijah and Freya
What: Elijah’s been hiding something and Freya wants answers
When: 8 August 2017, evening
Where: Elijah’s apartment
Warnings: Talk of vampirism
Status: Log | Complete

Now that Freya had time to adjust more to time differences and wasn’t as tired and running on pure adrenaline, nor was she being pulled into five hundred different directions at one time, she was picking up on more things as she was able to more focus on any one thing. Specifically that Elijah was hiding something from her, and it was clearly something big. The question was what. She had seen talk about dreams on the network that was aimed towards the county (really she had never seen a region based social media website like that before) but that was still a bit strange to her.

Either way, Freya was worried. She was the oldest sibling and she knew that Elijah took on a lot. Which meant she wanted to help, and she couldn’t help if she didn’t know what was going on.

For now, she was reading in the living room while she waited for him to come home from work.

Elijah had been hiding things. He’d told himself it was for the best. He didn’t need Freya worried about him on top of everyone and everything else. He was saving her the trouble of dealing with his shit on top of hers. He’d been fairly open about things with Ezio...some details aside. The whole thing about the dreams? Well, that was difficult to be open about. Especially when someone wasn’t ready to know things.

When he made his way home from work that day, he had quite a few things on his mind. He did try to consider what they might do for dinner. Not that he cared for any of the food they made. He preferred the alcohol portion of the evening...which happened practically every evening for him. He didn’t have to worry about it and he certainly didn’t need to be obvious about the hunger that he couldn’t control. At least this hadn’t been right after he’d turned. Otherwise, he’d have to do something to avoid too much time with his sister. Luckily, that was not the case.

He parked his car, using the stairs to get upstairs. Not that anyone would have noticed him, he moved fast enough that he would be practically invisible. He opened the door, smiling a little at his sister when he saw her. “I hope your day wasn’t too boring. Did you do anything?”

Freya would take offense to Elijah’s reasoning for trying to keep her from worrying. She was the older sibling after all. That and anytime someone tried to keep someone from worrying, it just made them worry all the more. Then again, Freya was used to worrying about everything and trying to find ways to fix things. Not that what was going on was something she could fix. But until she had answers, she was going to start going down worst case scenario paths.

Hearing the door open, Freya looked over and returned the smile some.

“Not too boring. Just trying to figure out what it is you’ve been keeping from me.”

And straight to the point. With Klaus, she knew that pushing was rarely the way to go and that he’d come around when he was ready. With Elijah, it tended to be better to get straight to the point as he was similar to her like that, always willing to brush off his own issues to focus on others.

It was rather direct. Elijah stared at her for a moment, very seriously considering asking her what made her think he was keeping something from her. Freya was perhaps not the person to be purposefully obtuse with. Even if he wanted to deny the fact that he was hiding things.

“Ah. Is that all you were wondering about?” But how to explain things. He put his things down in their places and took his suit jacket off, draping it over the back of one of the chairs. “I hadn't realized I'd been as obvious as that.” Of course it was possible that he hadn't been eating most of the time and most people tended to consider heavy drinking as a sign of turbulent times. He considered his actions briefly. “Do you want the truth, a half truth, or a lie? I can easily give you either. The truth is not as easily believed as the other two and perhaps more than you are willing to hear at this time.”

“Is that all you’re wondering about he says.” Honestly, he seemed rather flippant about it though Freya was paying close attention to Elijah’s features. But that was also the exact reason as to why she had gone the direct route with him. “Still, thank you for admitting that you are in fact hiding something.”

Because really. Had he pulled the obtuse thing with her, Freya would have been far from amused.

“I may have been gone for fourteen years beyond the occasional visit, Elijah, but you’re my younger brother and I know you, which means I know when you’re hiding something.” Someone needed to be the big sister after all, “So the truth would be greatly appreciated before I convince myself you’re dying from some incurable illness.”

Though admittedly him saying that the truth is not as easily believed did give her pause. Just what did that mean?

“Again, you’re my brother and I love and support you so there’s no unwilling to listen to you that is going to happen.”

“You don't have to worry about my dying,” he said after a moment. “I haven't aged for a few months now.” More than a few, but...who was counting? “I know you are...familiar with the oddities of the general area, but I am not certain you are familiar with our family's particular oddity.” Because that wasn't vague or anything.

“What I mean to say is…” He still wasn't sure how to explain it. “I will never age, I heal almost instantly, I am faster and stronger than your average human, and blood is my main source of nutrients these days.” The long-winded way of saying what he was. “We were turned into vampires in the dreams by our parents, you not included. Henrik either.” He shrugged slightly, loosening his tie just to have something to do with his hands and an excuse not to look at his sister at that moment.

“And here I am now.”

Okay, that was a relief. Admittedly Freya would probably worry anyway, but that was part of who she was. Always worrying about her siblings. But at least it seemed that there wasn’t some mysterious illness killing her brother. Because that was something she couldn’t even begin to fix.

“I’ve read a few things…” Freya had to wonder just how vague Elijah planned on being. Still, she would at least let him figure out how to explain whatever it was he’d been keeping from her. She could ask questions as they came up. Then he was talking about the dreams and she’d been just about to comment on how it sounded like he was trying to tell her he was a vampire when he said as much. But in the dreams.

“....I don’t think I’m quite following. So the dreams that people talk about on the network thing you had about being turned into a vampire besides Henrik and me,” which she’d ask about later, “And that’s what you’re hiding? Or are you trying to say that you’re a vampire here and not in the dreams?”

Because that sounded crazy and Freya was going to need alcohol if that was the case.

“Yes.” Elijah wasn’t sure how to explain the part about her and Henrik, but he hoped that she would not ask. He didn’t know that he could say, Well, you’re both dead, so… “Well…” He wasn’t really doing a great job at the moment with explaining just who he was. He needed a drink. So he got one...and he got one for Freya as well. “I am a vampire both in the dreams and out of them,” he said as he handed Freya her drink.

“Wait…” He turned around and grabbed the bottle before walking back. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions and I will do my best to answer them...and I have more than enough alcohol to help with whatever answers you get.”

Yeah. Alcohol was definitely going to be needed for this conversation. Because now her brother was telling her that he was a vampire. He obviously seemed to understand how insane it sounded, yet also spoke as if it were perfectly normal. Taking the drink, Freya took a sip and nodded. There were a lot of questions.

“How?”

One word. But honestly? It was the most pressing question because beyond being told their mother turned her siblings into vampires in the dreams and that he was a vampire here, there was no explanation on how that had transferred over.

“Is this common? Where you dream about something and it happens here?”

So far she was staying calm, but it was either that or just decide Elijah had snapped and was in fact dying but thought this was what was actually happening…

Being a vampire was, in fact, a normal part of his existence now. The very concept of it being real outside of the dreams had been a concern for a while before it happened and even a little while after. He didn’t adjust quickly like he’d seen so many others do. For a while, he’d felt so out of control that he didn’t trust himself around many others. He’d barely trusted himself around Ezio, but the man was a particular brand of stubborn that he hadn’t entirely understood at the time.

“I’m not entirely sure on the how. I just am aware that it happened.” He frowned slightly, brow furrowing as he did. “It is common, yes. I have heard of objects transferring over, seen objects transfer over from the dreams. He fidgeted with the ring on his middle finger, gaze on his alcohol for the time being. “I just...woke up one day and the sun...I couldn’t go into the sun.” He held out the hand with his ring. “This is the only thing that allows me to go into the sun without being burned.”

He was afraid to look up at his sister, uncertain of what he would see on her face, concerned that she would be afraid of him. He was afraid that she would reject him or think that he was lying to her. “I...It hasn’t been easy to adjust to and I know it’s impossible to believe, but it is the truth.”

Freya just nodded slowly before basically downing the entire drink before reaching for the bottle to get more. When she had come back from Europe, she had prepared for typical drama and things that she was used to dealing with. But her brother being a vampire? That was a lot.

“Okay. Well I’m glad that you don’t get burned when you go into the sun.” Obviously. It really did seem like just… convenient that he could go into the sun. But it was also obvious that he really and truly believed it and after being in an institution for a summer after trying to kill herself, she at least had some sort of experience in dealing with that. Still. Drinks.

“Is it completely rude if I ask you to maybe do the speed thing?” Sometimes you needed to see things with your own eyes to truly grasp it and that seemed easy enough to prove. She would move on from there.

Elijah studied his sister for a moment, letting her take the bottle before setting his cup down on one of the coasters. It was only a moment before he moved from the couch. What seemed normal to him, was faster speed across the room, barely visible. He leaned against the wall, watching Freya again. “You’re free to do any test you want. If you cut me, I will heal.” Anything she could think of. Not that he really wanted the experience of her cutting him. He could show her his true face as well, but he wasn’t sure she was ready for that...and he didn’t really want to scare her.

“I’m still me, just...different. Like everything I was is amplified. Everything I feel is amplified. It’s mostly a nuisance. Though, love...that is...more. It is perhaps the only thing that keeps me from going insane half of the time.” Especially with Niklaus being...Niklaus. He knew his brother would always find some way of drawing him in. He was, as Katherine said, his kyrptonite. But he didn’t want it to swallow him up whole here. “I hope you’re not too bothered by the idea.”

And…. he really was faster. It was as if he moved in the blink of an eye and Freya really wasn’t sure how to respond. She really had thought it was some sort of illness making him think he was a vampire… but if he could move that fast, then why shouldn’t she believe the rest of what he said?

“I’m not going to cut you, Elijah.”

Twisting some of her bracelets around, Freya fell silent again as she tried to wrap her head around what she had just witnessed. It had been obvious to her that Elijah had believed it but she also had learned the hard lesson thanks to Dahlia that even if you love and trust someone, you can’t always take what they say at face value. Still, logic dictated that if one of the abilities was true, then the rest of it was. Just like it would have been absurd for Elijah to give her what would appear a blatant lie after saying he’d tell her the truth when he’d even offered half-truths and lies because they’d be easier to believe.

“I can see why it would be hard to adjust if everything is amplified.”

Placing the glass on the table, Freya got up and walked over to Elijah as if searching his features before nodding.

“Well it’s definitely a lot to take in, but you’re still my brother whom I love. So you’re not scaring me away that easily.”

Elijah searched her face for any hint of something that might make him believe she didn’t mean what she’d said. He found none and he felt relief wash over him. It was a wonderful feeling compared to all of the others he experienced in the last few minutes. He’d been uncertain about whether she would be able to accept him as he was now. It was also this reason that kept him from revealing the fact that it meant he’d killed people. Most of the deaths were accidental, but there had been a couple that weren’t. Still, the relief was evident on his face.

Having looked at his sister’s face for longer than perhaps necessary, Elijah moved to rest his face against her shoulder. He did not often seek out such things from others (Ezio not included), but in that moment, he’d felt a rush of happiness and relief and he’d needed to be closer. It also helped that it hid the flood of emotions just a little.

“I did not know how to tell you,” he said after a brief pause. “I didn’t think you’d still want me if you knew I was a monster.” It was very rare that he expressed his feelings to people (once again, not including Ezio), but Freya was not ‘people’. While he did not wish to worry her, he also did not wish for her to turn him away, to reject him. It had been a very long time keeping it to himself, forcing himself to eat food he did not care for in order to look normal to his sister. He still did not let her know that it was more than just him who was dealing with the situation at hand. He would let them tell her.

Baby steps with the vampire reveal was probably a good plan. After all, it was hard enough wrapping her head around the fact that her brother was actually a vampire. Go into the deaths and well…. That would be even more to take in. So instead she just hugged her brother as he rested his face against her shoulder.

“I don’t see a monster, I just see my brother… though I can see why you wouldn't’ know how to tell me.” Because really. Vampires. It required alcohol and proof and not just words. She had to wonder if Kol or Rebekah were also vampires as they had been in the area unlike Klaus who had only just returned but she’d wait for them to come to her. She’d just been staying with Elijah, which meant she had been able to tell he was keeping things from her and with everything else that had been going on, hiding something wasn’t good for him. It was why she was here, she was the oldest sibling, it was her responsibility to do what she could to take care of her siblings.

Still, there was a question in the back of her mind, half of it tinged in Dahlia’s voice. Oh, Klaus was well known for his paranoia and fear that he would be left out by his family so he lashed out. Freya had her own concerns, wrapped up in random comments from Dahlia when she was little and amplified once she’d been living with her in England about how her family didn’t want her, especially if they knew the truth.

“Why weren’t Henrik or I turned as well in the dreams?”

He was glad to have Freya. She wasn’t turning him away. He’d needed to feel like it was okay to not be on one hundred percent of the time. He knew he could relax around Ezio. Ezio didn’t judge him for not being always put together. He just had a problem with not taking on responsibility that wasn’t his to take on. He felt like there was too much and he just...couldn’t stop accepting responsibility for things that didn’t belong to him. It was stupid.

“I...am not sure that is something that we should talk about unless you really want to.” He leaned back to look at his sister, a crease between his brow. The whole being dead thing was...well, he wasn’t sure that she was ready to hear it. He wouldn’t tell Henrik if he could avoid it. He’d visited and spent a few minutes hugging his youngest brother when he’d found out in the dreams, but he didn’t explain himself. He just hugged him and then asked about his life. Everything was...complicated because of the dreams.

“My being a vampire is one thing, this is...perhaps another.”

Freya would always do whatever it was she could for her family, being abroad had never stopped that. She was the older sister, and so she understood the feeling of needing to always be at one hundred percent. She could do that for Elijah, help him shoulder the burden when it was needed.

Though his words definitely confused her, as did the look he gave her. Because if whatever had caused her not to be turned was a different matter entirely from him being a vampire…

“You’re talking as if we’re….” Then she stopped, pieces falling into place. “When you called out of the blue…” Because of course she would remember that, how could she not? It had been so unexpected and Elijah was the sibling least likely to do as such along with Finn. “Oh…”

Well, that did explain why Elijah said it was a different matter. It was hard to wrap her head around. She supposed it meant that she wouldn’t need to worry about the dreams everyone spoke about, but it also meant that her family didn’t even know her in the dreams. Or maybe they did. But if she wasn’t in the dreams, did that tie into Dahlia saying she wasn’t needed and why couldn’t she get the woman out of her head all of these years later?

She also knew that Elijah was undoubtedly watching her expressions to see how she was.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there in the dreams to help you all with this. But I’m here now.” Because at the end of the day, she was always going to be the oldest sister, the one who looked after her siblings and did what she could. It might be foolish to apologize for being dead in dreams but it was what it was.

There was a flash of pain as he watched her put it together. He hadn’t wanted to let her come to that conclusion, but then he’d done it to himself. He’d been the one that brought her and Henrik up. He felt the guilt for it creeping up slowly. It was like he was constantly steeped in guilt, like it was the only thing he knew how to feel anymore.

He tried to find a way to do anything to make it better, but how was there any way to make that sort of thing better? He felt himself fumbling for something to do. He didn’t hug often, which was probably because he had been playing the part of older sibling while the other two were away. Mostly he just offered his presence to the others. If they needed a hug, he didn’t turn them away, but this felt different.

“I’m glad you are,” he said after a moment. “Mother and Father are worse in the dreams if you can believe it.” He’d seen their father, felt the guilt of not stopping him when it came to Niklaus. Everything was complicated and he was always being pulled in by something because of his inability to give up on his family, most notably Niklaus. In the dreams they were monsters. All of them. Self-made monsters. “Part of me wishes I could beg you to stay, but I won’t keep you past a month if you have to go.” Even with Ezio’s words still ringing in his head. Now that she was here, now that Niklaus was here, would they really leave? He couldn’t be sure.

“That sounds…. Wow.” Because no matter how close she had always been to Mikael, it wasn’t like she’d been blind to him. It wasn’t like she hadn’t argued with him when she learned of something he had done, tried to reason with him and pray that her being his favorite would somehow get through to him. She just often seemed to find out later, and so her attempts at peacemaking always seemed not to matter or went unnoticed. Not like she did it for anything other than trying to be there for her siblings. She just always seemed to have some sort of hope that things could work out, misguided and delusional as it might seem.

So she couldn’t even imagine what the dreams must have been like. Part of her did wonder, if only to better be able to help Elijah however she could while she was there, but if she was dead well…. She doubted it would happen. Still, the comment on wanting to beg her to stay did make her think.

“I mean, nothing’s set in stone. I don’t have anything lined up as of now. A job might show up here and surprise us all.”

She hadn’t really considered looking for anything in the area. Freya had her own reasons for always wanting to be on the move, of staying away. Reasons tied to Dahlia, reasons that her family didn’t need to know about as they were her burden alone to carry. And Elijah had enough on his plate as it were. But she also knew that Los Angeles had plenty of organizations that fell in line with her work. Either way, she couldn’t give a definitive answer one way or the other on if she were to stay for a month or more.

There was a slight nod at her words. It was as it probably always would be. Of course, he hoped that she would escape, that she would find a way out of the OC without the dreams, without anything. If she was dead, there was nothing for her to dream outside of five years of life and then death.

Not really knowing what to do in that moment, however, he motioned to the couch. “It might take an entire liquor store to get me drunk these days, but we might as well keep trying.” He offered her a small smile before lifting her up as if she weighed nothing and using his abilities to get them back to the couch with only a few seconds passing. He put her down on the ground.

“Whatever happens, I will accept, but I will be glad to have you around. And I will be here if you need me for anything.”

If seeing Elijah use his speed had been shocking, having him lift her up and move her in that same speed and with such ease just reaffirmed it all. Well okay, that would take getting used to. Instead she just nodded. “I think that sounds like a great plan.” Because everything that was revealed that evening? Definitely required more alcohol.

“Isn’t that supposed to be my line? But you know I’m always here for you for whatever you need, no matter where I am.”