𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍:
Grieving feels like an old friend
(1987)

"JESUS CHRIST, GENESIS." Elliot breathes out as he enters Genesis's and Rafael's apartment with his suitcase and still wearing the suit he wore to the courthouse.

He looks around and sees the apartment completely wrecked, ruined, and destroyed, and it seems as if a wild tornado demolished the place.

Then his eyes settled on Genesis, who was seated on the floor silently. "I needed to release my anger somewhere." She mutters out.

"Go kill someone or something to get your anger out of the apartment," Elliot answers as he places his suitcase on the good part of the black leather couch. He sighs, pursing his lips.

It's been a week since they buried Rafael's body in Sheffield, London, and Genesis hasn't been taking Rafael's death well.

Her actions have been unthoughtful and careless, unlike her usually calculated and reserved demeanor.

Elliot is a fuck-ton worried because of it.

Genesis turns her head around and looks at Elliot with no emotions in her dark green eyes. She scoffs, "Believe me when I say there will be a ripper on the loose in this city if I go on a killing spree, and even worse, she has her humanity on." Genesis refers to herself as she stands up from the floor and walks towards the refrigerator.

She takes a blood bag, takes the cap off, and drinks the liquid slowly as the blood coats her tongue. She takes another blood bag and throws it in Elliot's direction, which he catches with ease.

"There's nothing magic couldn't fix," Genesis tells him with a sigh as she mutters a spell under her breath as she holds her necklace, and slowly the apartment is back to normal, clean and fixed.

Elliot nods, taking the lid off the blood bags. Why is she drinking blood bags? "Drinking blood bags now?"

"If I drink from the vein, they'll be dead bodies in the street right about now, with the police declaring a serial killer with a blood craving." Genesis points out as she sits on the black leather couch with a heavy sigh. She tucks her legs to her chest, placing her chin on her knees.

"Niklaus supplied me with blood bags," Genesis informs Elliot, and he just nods, sitting on the other side of the couch, watching Genesis carefully and worriedly. "I'm not going to break, you know?"

"I know." Elliot answers with a firm nod, "You're grieving. It's normal to feel everything."

"I don't want to feel it." Genesis says with a strained voice, placing the empty blood bag on the coffee table as she hugs herself.

She feels like shit.

She feels horrible.

She feels guilty.

She feels the survivors' guilt.

She feels fucking angry.

And most of all, she feels fucking lonely.

"But you have to," Elliot tells her as he stands up from his seat and he sits beside her. He faces her. "Because you can't move forward if you try to skip it. You'll only go back to the start and do it all over again. Baby steps, Genesis. You don't have to rush. You don't have to move on with one snap. You can't tell yourself to stop grieving because it doesn't work that way." Elliot consoles as his Southern accent thickens with every emphasis. He places his arm around her shoulder as Genesis leans into his chest.

"So cry all you want, scream as loud as you want. And I want you to know that you are not alone in this. I'm here, your best friend is here, and I'll help you every step of the way, and I'm never going to leave you." Elliot promises as Genesis's hand goes to his shirt, gripping it lightly as she buries her head to his neck.

Her grip was scared and desperate, and it was the first time since he met Genesis that she showed any kind of vulnerability around him–with him.

"Don't leave me, Elliot, please. I don't know what I'll do if I lose you too." Genesis tells him, her voice muffled in his neck. Elliot hugs her tightly as he cradles her.

"I won't. I promise. We're in this together." Elliot firmly says as Genesis removes herself from him slowly and just leans on his shoulder. She stared mindlessly ahead.

"I miss him. God, I miss him so much." Genesis suddenly says. She fumbles with her fingers as she peels the skin of her lips with her teeth.

Elliot holds her hand, stopping her fingers. He was trying to help with her anxiety.

"I miss him too," Elliot admits. He frowns at the thought. He and Rafael might have a rocky start at the beginning of their friendship.

But it all went well when Rafael told Elliot of her intentions of Genesis as a peace treaty, that he meant no harm, and that he will make sure to give her the world.

That and when Rafael gifted him a basket full of sweets. Elliot Cresswell has a sweet tooth. After all, he couldn't resist.

Genesis looks at Elliot in sadness, "I forgot that you lost him too. I was too busy with my own grief to see yours." Elliot shakes his head and squeezes her hand in assurance.

"It's different for you. You love him, spent every minute of every day for four years. Know every bit of him. I just see him thrice a month when we decide to hit the bar." Elliot responds, and Genesis places a hand on his face, making Elliot look at her.

"Hey. Don't disregard your grief. He was your friend." Genesis points out, and Elliot gives her a soft smile, and Genesis just places her head on his lap.

Since she lost Rafael, all she felt is sadness, anger, grief, and bargaining. She doesn't know when it will end, but she does know that she needs to feel it, no matter what.

"Has Klaus contacted you?" Elliot suddenly asks her, and Genesis nods as she sighs. Niklaus Mikaelson has been nothing but helpful and supportive, which surprised her, she thought he was this prick that just did everything that would benefit him, but he proved her wrong.

He told her that the wolf that bit Rafael was now dead. He literally showed her a heart that was placed in a black box, which she couldn't argue, it pleased her to no end.

And he saved her from completely ending it all. Genesis is grateful for that, but she still doesn't know what he wants from her, why he approached her in the bar back, and why he wanted to visit her the morning that Rafael died in her arms.

"What do you think he wants from me?" Genesis asks him, and Elliot just shrugs.

"A friend, maybe?" Elliot answers with a chuckle.

"I bet he has plenty of friends."

"Not with the cocky attitude and holier-than-thou attitude he showed when he approached you at the bar." Elliot scoffs, and Genesis laughs. It was genuine and natural. Elliot hid a smile creeping on his face.

"Oh, give him the benefit of the doubt, could you?" Genesis slaps his chest playfully, and Elliot releases a laugh of his own. "Maybe he's lonely. Being a vampire is lonely, you know, especially for an old vampire."

Genesis knows the feeling too well.

Being a vampire, the loss is a common experience.

It often revolves around getting out of their comfort zone, never staying in one place for too long before humans notice that they never age.

People they met along the way never last.

They couldn't have attachments because, well—they're immortal, after all.

"Maybe he got tired of his own company. Being with someone with a high pride and ego seems tiring."