FROSTBITE • mikaelson mate

chapter twenty eight: the chase

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
the chase

I was packing my bags when Henrik and Elijah walked into the room. As soon as I'd woken up from a fitful night of sleep, I immediately felt a pang of homesickness. The desire to run away back to my simple life in England was overwhelming.

"Morgana?" Elijah said gently as he and Henrik watched me shove items of clothing into my duffle bag.

"Did you know that I can fit everything I care about into a bag?" I said absentmindedly as I attempted to zip the bag up, "Not including the people, obviously."

Henrik walked over to me and gently pulled my hands away from the stubborn zip and did it himself. I gave him an irritated look before I began pacing around the room, able to keep from moving. My mind was buzzing and so was my body.

"I spent my whole life essentially living out of a backpack." I rambled, running a hand through my hair, "That was meant to change when I bought a house. But here I am again, stuck in this endless journey of instability."

Elijah stepped in front of my path and I crashed into him. He held onto my shoulders to steady me and I immediately wriggled to get out of his hold. He let me go and I began my pacing anew.

"What can we do to help, Mor?" Henrik asked and I shook my head, the feeling making me dizzy.

"I just want to stay still for once. I just want to breathe!" I exclaimed, placing a hand on my forehead as I winced at the pounding headache that was forming, "I want to go home."

"To the hotel?" Elijah queried and I let out a huff.

"That's not a home, it's a cold husk." I spat, my furious gaze turning to Elijah, "I want to go back to England. I never should have left in the first place. I was happy there, I was sane."

"Okay, then we'll go back." Henrik said carefully and a sob escaped my lips as I let my body collapse onto the motel bed.

"Don't you understand?" Tears began to stream down my face as I clawed at my hair, "We can't go back, it's gone! The peace, the safety, the sanity is gone!"

"Morgana, I'm not quite sure that I understand what you're saying." Elijah stated as he perched at the end of the bed, his eyes conveying a sense of confusion and helplessness.

I let out a noise that was halfway between a laugh as a cry, "Don't worry, I don't understand myself either. I just... I just wish that the last few months had never happened. I wish that everything in my life hadn't happened. Maybe if my parents had wanted me I wouldn't be such a mess. Maybe that's why they abandoned me? Maybe they knew what an absolute fuck up I'd become."

"Morgana..." Elijah said, his brows furrowed as he watched me.

"Don't look at me like that, Elijah." I said, closing my eyes briefly as it would allow me an escape from his penetrating stare.

"Like what?"

"Like you want me to let you fix me." I huffed, "You have a serious savior complex."

"I don't want you to let me fix you, Morgana." Elijah said after a moment, "I want you to let me love you."

Staring up at the plain ceiling of the motel room, my tears began to slow. My breathing began to steady and Henrik took a seat on the bed with us. He took hold of my hand and gently rubbed soothing circles with his thumb.

"Are you alright?" Elijah asked carefully and I looked away from him as I nodded.

"Where's Kol?" I asked, looking around the room, my heart cracking slightly, "Does he not want to meet me?"

Henrik and Elijah exchanged a look and my heart sank.

"Does he not want a mate?" I choked out. In my quest to save them all, I'd never considered the fact that they might not even want a relationship with me.

"Trust me, Morgana, Kol very much wants you," Elijah reassured me, his eyes pained, "Unfortunately, he is unable to at the moment."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said, looking between my mates. Elijah took the hand that Henrik wasn't holding. I gripped their hands tightly, needing the comfort that they offered me.

"Last night after... After Henrik took you back to your room, Klaus daggered Kol before he got the chance to wake." Elijah said and for a moment, my heart stopped.

I pulled my hands away and climbed off the bed. Crossing my arms, I looked down at two of my mates.

"So all of this was for nothing?" I said, my mind turning numb. I locked away the pain and embraced the familiar coldness that had kept me protected throughout my childhood, "Where is Klaus?"

"He left before we woke," Henrik said with a wince, "And he took the coffins with him."

"And you let him?" I accused, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Yes because otherwise I would have a dagger in my chest as well." Elijah said and I saw his temper brimming within his eyes.

"Those fucking daggers." I hissed, clenching my jaw until the point of pain.

"What do you want to do, Mor?" Henrik asked, both him and Elijah rising from where they'd been sitting on the bed.

"I want to go after them." I whispered after a moment.

"Then so be it."

***

Days turned into weeks on the road as we traveled night and day to find the rest of the Mikaelsons. I was absolutely exhausted but a furious determination kept me going as we traveled through town after town. We didn't know whether or not Klaus knew we were following him or not, but either way, he was incredibly difficult to track.

Elijah had taken up the role of leader, him being the one who knew Klaus' patterns the best. As the weeks passed, his frown seemed to become more and more pronounced. None of us voiced it aloud but we all feared that we would never find them.

But then, on a day when everything seemed impossible, something amazing happened.

Chicago happened.

A/N: This was an incredibly uneventful and boring chapter but GUESS WHO WE MEET NEXT CHAPTER!!

Originally published: May 18th 2024