*A/N* Wow, sorry, this took even longer than the last chapter did. I have no good excuses for why this took actually forever, I was just lazy. My writer's block is super real right now so I apologize in advance for this chapter. Fair warning, it will probably be a train wreck, but, I mean, come on, it's tvdu, so honestly, at this point, who isn't? Anyway, please enjoy this extra long masterpiece that my sleep-deprived mind created at 2 AM, you're welcome.

Elijah POV

My entire body was screaming, it hurt to breathe, much less to move and attempt to make an escape. I could feel my blood clotting, seeming to turn into shards of broken glass, as it was slowly forced through my system with every beat of my heart, grating my veins to shreds. My heart still beat, though it slowed and faltered, it did not stop. That was the horrid, agonizing, sick beauty of the entire thing, the part that Mikael, no doubt, loved the most. I could almost feel the life slipping and draining away, almost feel myself dying, but was unable to do so.

Mikael came in and out constantly. Often, his visits were accompanied by strong, harsh blows that were then followed by the sickening noise of breaking bones. I lost count of how many tools and contraptions he used and gave up on the number of chemicals and concoctions. Vervain seemed to rain down in buckets, acid was doused over me in streams, and poisons were poured into IVs and dripped on open wounds. The shutter would be pulled open in flashes, allowing the rays of sunlight to bathe me in raw lava but never enough to burst into flames. My skin and clothes were left in tattered ribbons, barely clung together and often left gaping open to reveal bloody muscle and sometimes even bone underneath.

But sometimes no torture came at all, occasionally, he would just walk around me, trailing deceivingly gentle fingers over my skin as he circled. As much as I tried to drown it out, I was forced to listen to his cruel taunts and empty promises. "Just tell me where your siblings are Elijah, hmm? Whereabouts is your precious Klaus? Or sweet Rebekah? What about little Kol? Come on, Elijah, I only want to talk, just tell me. If you do, I'll let you go," he would say, over and over, his rough voice echoing off the walls.

But I wasn't stupid, I knew better, he had promised those things before, I didn't give in then, I wouldn't give in now. No matter what schemes or plans he came up with. No matter how tempting the promise was or how painful his treatment became. My mouth would stay shut, my guard would stay up, I would not give in. I could endure it, I had done it before, this was nothing new. Rebekah, Kol, Freya, Klaus, Hayley, they would all stay safe, I would not let Mikael get to them.

It almost hurt, that they didn't know, that they would keep thinking that I had simply left again. They thought that I had just disappeared and abandoned them, let them all down again. But, at the same time, I knew that it was best that they never find out. Even when I couldn't hold myself up any longer, even when I began to slowly dry and desiccate. Even when the world wouldn't stop spinning and the room wouldn't come into focus. Even when Mikael inevitably got bored of the conventional methods of torture, I hoped that they all remained blissfully unaware and far away.

Not taking the bait, not giving in and just spewing the information that was desired so that I might be set free, was difficult. But, I had a strong will, a grip on myself that I never let loosen, it was a tight hold and I did not slip from it. I reminded myself over and over that, whether my family knew it or not, all that I would go through here would be for them. After all, I had promised, I had vowed, to them and to myself, that they would not come to harm if I could prevent it. Family above all, always and forever.

The dreaded sound of those footsteps tore me out of my thoughts. I grit my teeth, pulled myself up, balled my fists, and steeled my nerves, trying as best I could to prepare for whatever was coming. Once Mikael was inside the room, he took his time approaching me, circling like a hunting predator. I could feel his eyes boring holes in me, searching for any point of weakness.

Eventually, he came to stand in front of me, I kept my head down, focused on ignoring him and keeping the Beast under control. I relied pretty much entirely on my hearing, which could really no longer be considered "enhanced." My eyes were still blurry, raw, painful, and utterly useless and my sense of touch was completely overloaded. Though, I could feel as he traced his fingers over my form, starting at my right bicep and working his way up to my chin where he tilted my head up to look at him.

I repressed a shudder that ran through me at the contact, trying to pull my head back and get away from him. His other hand came up to hold me by my hair, not allowing me to move at all as Mikael once again began tracing his fingers across my skin. From my cheek down to my chin, then to my neck and throat, and then dipping underneath what remained of my shirt collar. As hard as I possibly tried to keep my control, I was violently pulled backwards in time through memories that I had tried to forget of the man I had once called Father.

My mind was filled with the images that often haunted my nightmares. Dark, claustrophobic rooms, being blindfolded and gagged, a locked door with my family enjoying dinner right on the other side. Scrubbing the blood out of sheets for hours only to bleed on them again the next night. A dirty, sweaty hand wrapped around my neck and choking me, being torn apart from the inside out. Squeezing my eyes shut and holding my breath, just waiting for it to be over, praying that somebody, anybody, would come in and interrupt. Hoping that someone would find out what went on behind those closed doors but at the same time not being able to bear it if they ever did.

Of course, the Beast took advantage of my brief absence to immediately seize control over the body. Before I could do anything to stop him, he had lunged forward, fangs fully extended. I stood, trapped in the back of my mind, in horror as he sank his teeth into Mikael's wrist, tearing open the flesh and crunching into the bone. Mikael wasted no time in flinging the Beast backwards and before he could fully recover and attack again, I used his slightly dazed state to make a push forward and gain back control.

"Oh, you'll pay for that dearly, Elijah," Mikael growled, looking at his already half-healed arm.

I heard him fiddling around with some sort of metal contraption but couldn't make a guess at what it was. Before I was able to get away, he firmly grabbed a hold of my hair again. The metal was roughly arranged on my face and in my mouth. Hooks and clamps dug into my lips and gums as it tightened harshly around my head until I was forced to swallow the puddle of my own blood that had pooled in my mouth. As much as I struggled, I couldn't stop the metal as it pried my mouth open as far as it could go.

"We have rules, Elijah, that's the only thing that separates us from the animals, that's the only thing that differentiates you from all the other monsters," he drawled, his voice becoming farther away as he withdrew, knocking once on the wall and then exiting the room once it had been lifted.

I wasn't left alone for long, no such mercy existed in a place like this. Mikael was back momentarily and as soon as he entered the room all of my senses were immediately overwhelmed by the strong scent of blood. Before I could even stop myself, my fangs instantly extended and my body leaned and lunged forward against the chains blindly. The scent drove me insane, it took hold of me, tore the reins out of my hands. I was purely driven by a hollowing, empty, unending, impossible hunger for the blood. My mind went fuzzy, my heart's beating was renewed with a frantic purpose, the little, blurry vision that I had was tinted even redder.

"Now, now, I thought you would have more control than this, you're getting weak, Elijah," he spat, each word practically dripping with disdain.

Depositing whatever object he had that smelled of blood on a nearby table, I then faintly, over the roar in my ears, heard him fiddling with more metal. After a moment, his grip returned to my hair, wrenching my head upwards to face him. Cold metal was placed around my left fang, clamping and tightening so hard that I thought the tooth might crack. Dread filled me, making my blood run cold and my heart stop, but I couldn't find the energy to fight back after trying so hard to get closer to the blood. Suddenly, he began moving the tool downward, the fang being pulled with it. It was such a horrible pain that I couldn't stop myself from shouting and crying out. My screams echoed around the room as the tooth was slowly, painstakingly, agonizingly removed.

Of course, Mikael didn't stop on the first fang, after the deed was done, he quickly moved on to the second one and repeated the horrid procedure. By that point, I had screamed myself hoarse and my mouth was thick with my own blood. Once he let me go and finally removed the prying gag from my mouth, I collapsed as far down as the chains would allow, coughing and retching until I couldn't breathe. The pain was searing, the tools clearly having been drenched in vervain. I bit down lightly on the fabric of what remained of my shirt, desperate to stop the bleeding and nurse away the pain somehow but it was unconsoling.

"They're quite beautiful, Elijah, I think I'll keep them, it's not like you'll be needing them after all," he taunted, trailing his hand once more over my jaw before finally leaving the room.

The large gaps between my teeth felt foreign. It was impossible to not have been hoping that I would escape and be able to rejoin my family again but I didn't want any of them to see me like this. Vampires healed quickly, yes, but some things were beyond our healing ability, even for an Original. Growing back teeth after being defanged could take years, and that was with the help of blood, which I didn't have.

It was a fear that I would never acknowledge, but it was something rooted deep within me all the same. Often, it came to me in dreams, or... nightmares rather, mostly because I would immediately push it back down if it came up while I was conscious. It was images of my family, my siblings, from all different time periods, chancing upon me. The first time I was taken, for almost a century, Mikael had followed my siblings, chased them from town to town, city to city, country to country. Often, he hid me right under their noses, sometimes I could even hear them talking to each other, laughing and joking like they did in my memories. In my dreams, they would pull open a cellar door or wander down a forgotten back alleyway and stumble upon me. The next part was simple, always the same, it never changed, I could probably rehearse it with my eyes closed, but it terrified me nonetheless. Every time, no matter who it was, no matter what I did, they would take one look at me, get this look in their eyes, and then leave. Just close the door and wander away, get inches away from grabbing my hand, then pull back and let me go.

I knew that they wouldn't leave me, reasonably, I knew that they wouldn't... right? But the thought of it, the possibility, ran rampant in my head. After all, I had heard them laughing and joking and chatting away with each other when Mikael had hidden me close enough, they hardly ever did that while I was around. To be honest, I'm not really certain why I was trying to assure myself that they wanted me back. They all seemed awfully miserable when I was around, and it's not even like I was useful, not any more so than Kol or Rebekah at least. Maybe they were better off without me, maybe it would be best if I stayed away, they might be happier if I did. Maybe, if they ever found me, they would leave, take one look and decide that I was no longer worth it and that no further efforts should be wasted on a lost cause. That would be fair, it made sense, Hope needed help, so did Hayley, and Marcel, and Davina, and the werewolves, so did Kol, and Rebekah, and Freya, and Klaus, even Finn- Surely I wouldn't even make the never ending list, much less be at the top of it.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I firmly promised, to all of them and to myself, to the universe, or to fate, or to any gods that were listening, I promised that from now on, all of it would be for them. All of the torture, the taunts, the humiliation. All of the sunlight, the vervain, the poison, the blades. Every hit that I took and shaky step that I made. Every breath that I let in and out of my system, every beat of my heart. It was all for them. Desperately, I dug into my last reserves of magic, summoning all of my remaining strength and channeling it into this one last effort. I had a deep connection with my siblings, they were all I had left, it was almost inevitable that some sort of a magical link would be formed, it was using that link that was the difficult part. Though I couldn't see nor hear them, I could almost feel their presence within my mind. Strongly tethering myself to that presence, I made one last push forward, one last pull from my power, one last frantic leap. Seconds before the body lost consciousness and I was forced to retreat into the back of my mind, I whispered my promise through each of those links. "The pain is all for you."

*A/N* Alright, that's it, I'm back in a bit more of a schedule now so I hope that I will be able to keep up a better uploading pattern. Every two or three days is my goal for a new chapter, fingers crossed that I can stick to it, at most it will one update a week if I hit a rough patch. I hope you liked this, I will see you in the next one, thank you so much for reading!

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